MOTO2 World Championship leader Alex Marquez will not be stepping up to the MotoGP premier class in 2020 after he put pen to paper on an extension with his current Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS team.
The Spaniard – younger brother of five-time MotoGP champion Marc - joined the Belgian’s Moto2 outfit back in 2015 after clinching the Moto3 World Championship title a year earlier, but it is only now that he has positioned himself as a title contender in the intermediate feeder class with five wins from the last seven races.
Now armed with a 43-point lead over Thomas Luthi in the overall standings, regardless of how the 2019 season transpires, Marquez will enter a sixth season with the team in Moto2 next year.
"I am very happy to be able to announce that next season I will continue with Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS in the Moto2 category,” he said.
“I am very grateful for the confidence of the team. With its renewed technical structure, a key part of the current success, I will be able to continue for one more year to improve as a rider, raise my riding level and prepare myself to fulfil my dream of making the leap to MotoGP.
“I am also grateful for the confidence of Estrella Galicia 0,0 during all these years and Marc Van der Straten who will continue to support me in my sporting career so that I can fight to achieve my objectives in the Moto2 category.”
Was Marquez’s Petronas Moto2 move blocked by Rossi?
The announcement brings an end to numerous rumours involving Marquez, both in MotoGP and Moto2.
Indifferent form early in the season and a lengthy tenure in Moto2 seemed to have absolved Marquez from the 2020 MotoGP movements when the majority of next year’s deal were confirmed around May.
However, Marquez recent upturn in form did put him in line for one of the remaining seats left at Avintia Racing, until it extended Tito Rabat’s deal for 2020 instead.
As such, Marquez was courted by Petronas Sprinta Racing on the premise it would guarantee a route to MotoGP on its Yamaha in 2021, but paddock rumours suggest this was vetoed by the factory and Valentino Rossi, who wasn’t keen to have a Marquez influence within the Iwata fold.
Indeed, Marc VDS boss Marc van der Straten appears to reference this when he says the team was happy to facilitate his rise to MotoGP but not let him go to another Moto2 team.
“I'm really happy that the guy, the rider, the man will stay with us for another year. The option of his promotion to MotoGP next year would have made us excited, as we want the best for him because he deserves it.
“However, I didn't like the option of him spending another year in Moto2 competing in another team. If he were to win the title this year, it would be in bad taste for him to fight for it in 2020 for a rival team when he has been trained with us in this category.
“Fortunately, he stays at home and will be able to complete his entire career in Moto2 with the Team that has seen him grow.”
British rider Sam Lowes has been tipped to join him on the second bike, replacing Xavi Vierge.
