Rumour mill spoke about KTM‘s interest in Marc Márquez for a very long time, but none of the two parties had confirmed it. At least, they hadn’t until today, because new KTM Spain CEO Marc Coma said to Radio Marca: “Yes, KTM offered a seat to Marc Márquez.”
We remind you that Repsol Honda Team Catalan rider already competed with KTM from 2008 to 2010, when he was in 125cc World Championship. And it’s clear that he Austrian manufacturer would really like to sign him again…According to what Coma said, the offer was sent to Márquez during 2018, before he decided to extend his contract with HRC.
“Marc was a member of KTM family in the past and he’s a great rider” said the five times Dakar winner. “It takes time to become competitive in MotoGP, but KTM is following the right direction and when the bike is fast enough to win, we’ll try to put Márquez on it” Coma believes that the way RC16 is being developed may tempt the Catalan, who may rejoin KTM after his contract with Honda expires (in 2020).
Former Dakar Champion and organizer Coma also knows that Marc likes Dakar. “Well, Marc’s MotoGP career is still very long” said Coma. However, the Spaniard gave him some advice: “I’d suggest him to race Dakar with a car rather than on a bike. It would diversify his racing experience, why not?”
Translated by Alessandro Palma