Just in: Top Factory Team terminates sponsorships contract with Marc Marquez

Sponsorship issues make Marc Marquez’s possible transfer to the Ducati Factory Team for 2025 more difficult. Marquez is primarily dependent on his personal sponsorships because he abandoned a lucrative Honda contract to join Gresini Ducati with little financial reward. Red Bull, one of his main sponsors, has stood by him since his early MotoGP days. However, Monster Energy, Red Bull’s competitor, supports the Ducati Factory Team, raising the possibility of a sponsorship conflict.

Marc Marquez faces serious sponsorship obstacles if he decides to join the Ducati Factory Team because of problems with his current agreements with Red Bull, Samsung, and other companies. The way these disputes are resolved will be critical to his future financial security and team alignment.

Read more: Catalunya MotoGP: Marc Marquez is trailed by Jorge Martin in the first free practice.

Jorge Martin outperformed Marc Marquez in the first Formula One race thanks to a late time attack.

Last season, Aprilia was victorious at the Catalan MotoGP. This year, Aleix Espargaro, who recently announced his retirement at the end of 2024, led the way from teammate Maverick Vinales.

The eight-time world champion passed the leader of the championship to Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin, who were equally fast as Aprilia.

Marquez then made much more progress on his subsequent lap, breaking the 1 minute 40 second mark for the first time this weekend.

Brad Binder soon followed Marquez in setting a sub-1 minute 40 second lap, but it was getting harder to overtake the Gresini rider.

In an attempt to continue, Binder erred at turn 10, sliding into the left-hander and then taking off.

With 10 minutes remaining, Johann Zarco, who was 12th fastest, decided not to attempt the new exhaust and fairing, hoping to improve until more changes were introduced.

In sector four, there were tardy yellow flags raised as Binder experienced another moment of deviation.

Martin demonstrated remarkable speed by outpacing Marquez by almost three tenths of a second after deciding to use a fresh soft rear tire late in the race.

Before a mistake in sector two ended Pedro Acosta’s fast lap, he appeared to be a serious contender for the top two spots.

Eventually, the youngster found time, finishing fourth behind Binder, another KTM rider.