Marc Márquez stays with Ducati until 2028: a key signature ahead of a new MotoGP era
Ducati Corse announced on June 23, 2026, that it had extended its contract with Marc Márquez for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, meaning the Spanish rider will remain a member of the factory Ducati Lenovo Team until the end of the 2028 MotoGP season. The decision, confirmed in Borgo Panigale in Bologna, removes one of the biggest unknowns on the rider market and gives the Italian manufacturer continuity at a moment when the championship is preparing for a major technical change. According to Ducati’s announcement, the agreement strengthens the sporting and technical project in which Márquez remains one of the central figures of the factory team. For Ducati, it is also a strategic message to the competition: it is entering a period of new motorcycles, new tyres and different rules with a rider who has already proved he can turn adaptation into a world championship title. For Márquez, meanwhile, the extension means that after years of injuries, uncertainty and a change of environment, he is once again tying his future to a project that has restored his winning stability.
An agreement that ends speculation about the future
In Ducati’s official statement, Márquez said he was “truly happy” about the new agreement with the Ducati Lenovo Team and the continuation of his belonging to a team he described as a family. He said that when he arrived at Ducati he was convinced he was entering the most competitive project, and that the relationship with the team was built on trust and work. According to him, the contract extension once again confirmed Ducati’s commitment and gave him the peace of mind needed to make the decision. The rider with number 93 also emphasized that he continues to compete because he loves the sport and wants to reach even more ambitious goals. His message, summed up in the sentence that he is “red” and wants to colour the future in Ducati’s colour, clearly shows that this is not only a formal contract extension, but a confirmation of a long-term sporting alliance.
Ducati stated in its announcement that the relationship between Márquez and the manufacturer from Borgo Panigale began to develop at the start of 2024, when the Spanish rider, after leaving Honda, competed on a Ducati motorcycle in a satellite environment, and continued from 2025 in the factory Ducati Lenovo Team. It was precisely the move to the factory team that became a turning point in one of the most remarkable careers in modern motorcycling. Ducati recalls that in his first year with the factory squad, Márquez won the championship title, took 14 victories in sprint races and 11 victories in main Grand Prix races, and ended the season with a record 545 points. The team particularly highlighted that he secured the title five races before the end, which gave additional weight to his return to the top after a period marked by injuries and changes in form. Such an achievement explained why continuing the partnership was a logical move for Ducati, and not merely a response to market pressure.
Ducati’s message: continuity, trust and ambition
Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding, said in the official statement that extending with Márquez for 2027 and 2028 was the “most natural choice” after the results achieved in his first season in red. According to Domenicali, Márquez brought an even more determined mentality and an exceptional competitive spirit to a winning team. Ducati does not see him only as one of the most talented riders of his generation, but also as an athlete who fits into the factory’s culture: work, sacrifice, professionalism and the ability to maintain harmony in the garage. This is an important detail because a factory MotoGP team is not built only around the speed of an individual, but around the relationship between riders, engineers, mechanics and development decisions that extend across several seasons. In a period of rule changes, such stability can be worth as much as current form on track.
Luigi Dall'Igna, general manager of Ducati Corse, emphasized in the same announcement that the relationship between Ducati and Márquez rests on trust. According to him, Márquez first sought Ducati, then chose it, and now both sides are planning a common future. Dall'Igna stressed that working with Márquez had impressed him from an engineering perspective because the Spanish rider, as Ducati says, brought the Desmosedici GP to top performance and helped extract the maximum from every part of the motorcycle. Such a statement is particularly important in MotoGP, where a top rider is not only the user of a technical package, but also a key source of feedback in development. If Ducati wants to retain its advantage in the new era, it will have to combine the experience of its engineering department with a rider who knows how to recognize the limit of the motorcycle and quickly turn it into a result.
Why the timing of the announcement is especially important
The announcement did not arrive in an ordinary part of the season. Just a few days earlier, on June 19, 2026, MotoGP confirmed that MotoGP Group and five manufacturers, Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, KTM and Yamaha, had signed a framework agreement defining the period from 2027 to 2031. According to MotoGP’s official announcement, it is the first such unified agreement by all manufacturers in the history of the championship, and its goal is to ensure the sport’s long-term stability, competitiveness, technological relevance and global appeal. This created an institutional framework for a new era of the championship, but also space for a series of decisions on rider line-ups. In that context, Márquez’s extension with Ducati looks like the first major move by which the factory team is positioning itself for the period after 2026.
Motorsport.com reported that the rider market for 2027 had slowed down until the wider commercial framework of the championship was resolved. According to the same source, Ducati’s official confirmation of Márquez’s contract opened space for further announcements on the market, while at the same time a restructuring of relations between several factory and satellite projects is expected. Although such market assessments remain subject to official confirmations by individual teams, it is clear that Márquez’s signature has an effect beyond one garage. When Ducati’s factory team ties the champion down until 2028, rivals must respond with their own combinations of experience, youth, development and market appeal. That is why this announcement can also be read as the beginning of a new phase of strategic reshuffling in MotoGP.
The new technical era changes the value of rider experience
From 2027, MotoGP enters the most significant technical change in more than a decade. According to the published technical framework for 2027 and the summary published by Motorsport.com, engine capacity in the premier class will be reduced from 1000 to 850 cubic centimetres, the maximum cylinder bore from 81 to 75 millimetres, and aerodynamic influence will be more limited than in the current generation of motorcycles. The rules also provide for a ban on ride-height devices, including start systems, while fuel tank capacity will also be reduced. According to MotoGP, from 2027 the fuel in all Grand Prix classes must be 100 percent of non-fossil origin, and its nature will be checked through C14 testing. In addition, MotoGP previously announced that from 2027 Pirelli will become the official tyre supplier for MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3, while Michelin remains the exclusive supplier until the end of the current technical cycle in 2026.
For manufacturers and riders, this is not a cosmetic change, but almost a reset of the development process. Smaller engines, different aerodynamics, the ban on some aids and a new generation of tyres change the ways of braking, acceleration, fuel consumption and transfer of power to the asphalt. In such a situation, the value of a rider who can quickly read technical changes increases, especially if that rider has experience fighting for titles in different periods of MotoGP. During his career, Márquez has already gone through changes in motorcycles, tyre suppliers, levels of aerodynamic influence and his own physical limitations. That is precisely why Ducati is getting more than a sporting name: it is getting a reference point for development in a period in which no manufacturer can be certain that the previous hierarchy will simply be copied into 2027.
Márquez’s comeback as the foundation of Ducati’s decision
Márquez’s story with Ducati carries strong sporting symbolism. After a dominant period with Honda, injuries and several seasons without a title, the move to Ducati was a risky step for both the rider and the manufacturer. For Márquez, it meant leaving the environment in which he had achieved the greatest part of his career; for Ducati, it meant bringing a rider of exceptional status into a system that already had its own champions, development structure and internal dynamics. According to Ducati’s announcement, that risk paid off in the first factory season, when Márquez won his ninth world championship title overall, seventh in the MotoGP class and first in red. In its announcement, MotoGP described his comeback as one of the greatest sporting turnarounds, emphasizing that in 2025 he ended a multi-year period without a title.
That comeback is also important for the wider picture of MotoGP. Márquez is one of the few riders whose mere presence changes the market, media and sporting dynamics of the championship. His presence in factory Ducati increases pressure on rivals, but also raises the commercial value of the team at a time when MotoGP wants to expand its global reach and attract new audiences. According to MotoGP Group’s official announcement on the 2027-2031 agreement, the championship wants to strengthen promotion, fan engagement and commercial development, and stars of such magnitude have an important role in that strategy. By extending the contract, Ducati is therefore not only securing results on track, but also a clear identity axis for the years in which the sport will try to present itself to a wider audience as technologically relevant, safer and spectacular.
What the extension means for the Ducati Lenovo Team
For the Ducati Lenovo Team, extending the contract with Márquez means stability at the most sensitive moment of development. The factory team does not have to look for a new project leader precisely when the rules are changing, but can build 2027 and 2028 around a rider who already knows its processes, engineers and way of working. This shortens adaptation time and gives the development department clearer feedback. In MotoGP, where differences at the top often depend on details in braking, traction and handling, continuity between rider and engineers can decide the direction of the entire prototype. Dall'Igna’s statement that the ambitions are unchanged shows that Ducati does not only want to defend the existing level, but to use the rule change as an opportunity to continue its dominance.
At the same time, the extension increases expectations. If Ducati enters the new era with Márquez, the public will view every technical decision through the question of whether the team can give him a motorcycle capable of fighting for the title. The competition will not wait: Aprilia, KTM, Honda and Yamaha are getting the same regulatory opportunity to approach or overtake Ducati, and the introduction of Pirelli may change the balance of power more than might be expected at first glance. Márquez is both an advantage and a pressure in this, because his status means that mediocre results can hardly be interpreted as acceptable in the long term. With this signature, Ducati has effectively accepted the obligation to remain a reference point even in a technically changed MotoGP, and not only a team defending past successes.
A signal to the rest of the championship
For the rest of the MotoGP order, this announcement carries a double message. The first is sporting: Ducati is retaining a rider who can decide the championship even in seasons marked by injuries, recoveries and fluctuating form. The second is developmental: the manufacturer from Borgo Panigale does not want to allow the transition to 850cc motorcycles to open space for the competition without a strong response. According to available information, Márquez again showed speed in 2026 with victories in Hungary and the Czech Republic, and after Brno MotoGP stated that he had reduced the gap in the fight for the top of the championship. Although the current season is still developing and the standings may change, the contract extension shows that Ducati is not basing its decision only on a short-term result, but on the assessment that Márquez remains crucial for the period ahead.
In a broader sense, the contract until 2028 confirms that Márquez is not thinking about a quick departure from the sport. After all the injuries and changes that have marked his career from 2020 onward, such a decision carries personal and competitive weight. He remains a rider who wants more titles, Ducati remains a manufacturer that wants to confirm that its strength is not tied only to one generation of rules, and MotoGP gets one of its biggest stars locked into a project that will mark the beginning of a new era. When motorcycles with smaller engines, different aerodynamics, non-fossil fuel and Pirelli tyres take to the track in 2027, Márquez will still be in red. That is the message Ducati wanted to send now, before the new rules begin to write a new hierarchy in the premier class.
Sources:
- Ducati Corse / Ducati Motor Holding – official announcement on the extension of Marc Márquez’s contract with the Ducati Lenovo Team for the 2027 and 2028 seasons. (link)
- MotoGP.com – official news on the confirmation of Márquez in the Ducati Lenovo Team for 2027 and 2028 and the context of his results with Ducati. (link)
- MotoGP.com – official announcement on the agreement between MotoGP Group and manufacturers Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, KTM and Yamaha for the 2027-2031 period. (link)
- MotoGP.com – official announcement on Pirelli as the future tyre supplier for MotoGP from 2027. (link)
- MotoGP.com – official Grand Prix Commission announcement on 100-percent non-fossil fuel from 2027 and C14 verification. (link)
- Motorsport.com – analysis and overview of the technical changes to MotoGP rules for 2027, including the reduction of engine capacity, aerodynamic restrictions and the ban on ride-height devices. (link)
- Motorsport.com – report on the official extension of Márquez’s contract with Ducati until the end of 2028 and the context of the rider market. (link)