Alex Marquez stated that after last year's championship season, he set his sights on a factory contract and that KTM contacting him directly facilitated this decision. The Spanish rider will leave Gresini to join the KTM factory team in 2027, coinciding with the start of MotoGP's new 850cc rules; he will be joined by Fabio di Giannantonio, who also came through the Ducati youth system.
The goal triggered by last year's second-place finish.
Marquez had his most successful year in MotoGP in 2025, finishing second overall behind his brother Marc Marquez. This result paved the way for him to aim for a factory seat as his next step. “When I finished second with very good points last year, I set my sights on becoming a factory rider,” said Marquez, emphasizing that the development priority provided by the factory team would be critical in the 2027 season due to new tires and new technical regulations. KTM's direct approach, saying “we need you, we want you to be involved in the project,” reinforced his decision. The 30-year-old rider added that he already had riders he had worked with at KTM before.
Marquez made it clear that the pay difference in the move to the factory team was not his priority. “The real priority was the project itself, the people inside, and my dream of being a factory rider,” he said. He also stated that, unlike his first year with the Honda factory team in 2020, he believes he can lead the team this time with his seven years of MotoGP experience. Joining Honda in 2020 to replace Jorge Lorenzo, Marquez was unexpectedly thrust into a leadership role after his brother suffered an injury in the opening race in Jerez; that season he finished 14th after achieving back-to-back podium finishes in Le Mans and Aragon.
Saying goodbye to Gresini won't be easy.
Marquez joined Gresini in 2023 and won a sprint race in his first season. After three seasons at the front of Ducati, he was promoted to a factory-specification bike this year; however, his path to an official Ducati lineup was closed when the team replaced Francesco Bagnaia with Pedro Acosta from KTM. Marquez acknowledged that leaving Gresini was one of the most difficult aspects of this transition, explaining that he spoke with team principal Nadia Padovani on the phone every day during the contract negotiations. He mentioned that last November he promised Padovani that he would tell her directly when a factory team first approached him, and that Padovani, while saddened, congratulated him, saying, "You deserve it.".
Marquez also expressed his belief that the KTM project could spring a surprise in 2027: ’It’s a project I’ve always loved, I think it could happen very quickly; why shouldn’t we be next year’s surprise?“