Alex Marquez joins Fabio Di Giannantonio at Gresini Racing for MotoGP’s 2023 season replacing three-time race winner Enea Bastianini.

Bastianini is confirmed to be heading for a factory Ducati ride for the coming season but the team - either Ducati Lenovo or Prima Pramac - is yet to be decided. The Italian is in a head-to-head battle with Jorge Martin for the final seat alongside Pecco Bagnaia in the factory outfit.

Marquez moves to Ducati machinery after three seasons on the LCR Honda RC213V with two podiums to his name, at Le Mans and Aragon in 2020.

“I’m really happy to announce that I’ll be joining Team Gresini MotoGP,” Marquez said on the announcement. “I’m also very excited to be starting this new adventure: it was crucial for me to change in order to recover the same type of motivation I had when I first joined this class.

“This was the best option for me, with a team that helped write the history of this championship. I would like to thank Nadia, Carlo and all the GR staff for believing in me. I still have half a season left to do my best before starting 2023 with top motivation.”

Confirmed to remain with the team that kickstarted his premier class career this season, with a pole position and eighth place finish already under his belt in his rookie year, Fabio Di Giannantonio is positive of continuing the successful momentum already on show.

“I’m really happy to extend my partnership with this team, which is like a family to me,” di Giannantonio confirmed. “It’s great because we’ll continue on this learning curve, and we’ll be doing so with a Ducati – and that makes me very happy.

“Continuity is key in MotoGP in order to be able to work on myself to be the best possible. We have been working on this contract extension for a little while, and now we can finally announce it. Obviously the goals will be higher: we’ll be using this second part of the season to improve our results and then next year I really want to make that step up.”

“I’m really happy with this new project,” Team Owner, Nadia Padovani Gresini added. “First of all we’re confirming our continuation with Fabio Di Giannantonio. He has already shown his talent this year, as he has been improving race after race, and I’m sure that he’ll keep getting more competitive.

“We were looking to put a more experienced rider alongside him, and I think Alex Marquez is the perfect one for our team. His CV speaks for itself: we think he has great potential and that the Desmosedici machine may be the perfect companion on his new journey. Welcome to the family, Alex!”