Gibernau… Elias… Pedrosa… Lorenzo… the next Spanish superstar of road racing, Marc Márquez, gets back on track today as testing begins in earnest for the 2010 125cc season.
This year, the Repsol-backed rider has joined the Finnish Ajo Motorsport team and is now riding a Derbi RSA, built in Barcelona. He also gets a snazzy new racing kit.
New bike, new leathers, new team, it’s the perfect birthday present for the Repsol rider, who happens to turn 17 the same day he takes to the Circuit de Catalunya following the winter break in training.
"At last we are returning to the atmosphere I most like, because after so much time away from the tracks, I miss it,” said Marquez.
“I have been doing motocross, enduro, going to the gym and cycling but I was looking forward to getting on my new bike. As always, we'll have to start carefully, to pick up the pace of the tests, of the speed... And then, we will up the pace."
Since his world championship debut, Márquez has become the youngest Spanish rider to step on the podium (at the 2008 British Grand Prix) and the youngest to achieve a pole position, (at the French Grand Prix last year).
Joining the Finnish team also gave Marquez the opportunity to try racing on ice with his new boss, 10-time ice racing champion Aki Ajo.
“It was quite cold, the temperature was 20 below zero, but riding a bike on ice was fun,” Marquez added. “I was surprised how much grip there is because there is much more than on a dirt bike.”
The 125cc World Championship begins at the Losail Circuit, Qatar, on April 11.
Repsol Media
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