Marquez and GP23s at a Disadvantage Ahead of MotoGP’s Final Stretch After Indonesia Engine Fiasco

Marc Marquez at a Disadvantage? Allegations of Significant Modification to GP23

Marquez's Engine Malfunction in Indonesia Leads to Component Swap

This weekend marks the commencement of the last quartet of races for the 2024 MotoGP championship, starting with the Australian Grand Prix. However, Marc Marquez and his fellow GP23 competitors are at a disadvantage.

Marquez's power unit on his GP23, managed by Gresini, failed dramatically at the Mandalika circuit in Indonesia nearly three weeks ago.

Ducati has not provided an official reason for the engine failure, but initial reports from The Race, followed by Gazzetta dello Sport, suggest that the fault lies with a flywheel.

Recently, in an effort to enhance the engine's performance, a fresh flywheel was fitted into the GP23 during the latest rounds.

The GP23's engine braking features have presented challenges for riders such as Marco Bezzecchi throughout the season, as the Italian struggles to leverage his braking prowess and simultaneously faces issues with understeer when navigating corners.

This enhancement to the motorcycle aligned with Bezzecchi's performance surge during the latter half of the season, achieving top six finishes in every Grand Prix post-Aragon – his highest being a fourth place at the Emilia Romagna event.

Certainly, Marquez has secured victories in two Grand Prix events during the latter part of the season.

Following a malfunction with his engine in Indonesia, it's believed that Ducati switched back to its former flywheel configuration, suspecting that the new version might have been responsible for the malfunction.

Despite not impacting Marquez's performance at the Japanese Grand Prix, where he secured podium finishes in both events, the closest competitor riding a GP23, Bezzecchi, finished significantly behind in seventh place, trailing by more than 15 seconds from the Gresini racer.

Based on the official engine distribution document from Dorna Sports, Marquez has expended two out of his permitted seven engines.

Due to the 2024 racing calendar initially listing 21 races before the season's first event, Marquez and other non-concession competitors will gain access to an eighth engine, though this won't happen until the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Both riders from VR46 find themselves in a similar situation, although Bezzecchi has forfeited just one engine from his quota, unlike Fabio Di Giannantonio, who has lost two.

Alex Marquez has also seen two engines from his allotment become unusable.

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