Gresini Racing has announced Alex Marquez will step into the vacancy created by Enea Bastianini’s impending promotion for the 2023 MotoGP season.
Ahead of the Dutch TT race, Gresini confirmed its line-up for next year as being the younger Marquez brother alongside the retained Fabio Di Giannantonio.
That comes as Bastianini, a winner of three grands prix this year, awaits word on whether he or Jorge Martin will win the race to replace Jack Miller at the Ducati Lenovo Team.
The other is expected to team up with Johann Zarco at Pramac Racing.
Outgoing Suzuki star Alex Rins meanwhile is tipped to slot in at LCR Honda, while Marquez’s move has seemingly come at the expense of Miguel Oliveira, who remains on the hunt for a ride after losing his 2023 seat at Red Bull KTM Factory Racing to Miller.
Marquez, brother of Repsol Honda ace Marc, has won world championships in both Moto2 (2019) and Moto3 (2014) and has two premier class podiums to his name.
“I’m really happy to announce that I’ll be joining Team Gresini MotoGP, and 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,” said the 26-year-old Spaniard.
“This was the best option for me, with a team that helped writing the history of this championship.
“I would like to thank Nadia [Padovani] 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.”
Gresini has confirmed Marquez will be on a factory-spec Ducati, while Di Giannantonio will ride a 2022 bike.
Oliveira is now rumoured to be a chance of popping up at RNF Racing, which will switch to running Aprilia machinery from next year.
The MotoGP leg of the Dutch TT at Assen begins at 22:00 AEST tonight.
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