MotoGP tipped for new golden age of popularity thanks to two in-form riders

Jorge Lorenzo thinks that MotoGP could experience a boom in popularity, almost to the heights of Valentino Rossi’s peak.

The competitiveness of Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta is the reason.

Marquez and Acosta have shone this season but will become factory riders in 2025, and could vie for the MotoGP title to herald a new era of thrills.

“As soon as Marc has returned to fighting for victories, the MotoGP audience, also with Acosta in the category, has increased,” Lorenzo is quoted by AS.

“I won't tell you that he is at the level of Valentino Rossi's good times, but it is true that by far he is the most media-worthy.”

Lorenzo insists that Marquez proved his clout by winning the battle for the 2025 official Ducati.

He provoked a U-turn from the manufacturer after claiming he would not accept a factory bike within the Pramac team.

“He has played his cards in the best way,” Lorenzo said.

“He has played his cards by saying in the media, and I suppose personally in private, that he was not going to Pramac, that he wanted red.

“Ducati was scared. The only option they had to keep Marc Marquez was to put him in red and that 'threat' of 'if you don't put me in red, I'll leave', had an effect in the offices.

“It is clear that Gigi Dall’Igna and Ducati's plan was to keep all three of them; Jorge in red and, if possible, Marc in Pramac.

“But Marc didn't have that plan.”

Ex-Ducati rider Lorenzo assessed the manufacturer’s decision to snap up Marquez, and lose Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini in the process.

“I think that the results, although the riders themselves denied it, have been fundamental,” Lorenzo said.

“If Jorge Martin had won almost all the races, I think he would be in the red now, despite having to fight for that future with Marquez.

“It is true that he is still first in the World Championship, but Marc, with a GP23, is the only one who is close to 2024. And it is Marc Marquez.

“Therefore, Claudio Domenicali, with the pressure that Marc put on, preferred to secure Marquez rather than Martín.

"It's that simple.

"Ducati sees that he is 32 years old, that he can probably have between two and four good years left, and can retire in red, being a rider for the brand.

“Without obviously counting the results he can give.”