Marc Marquez is keen to continue his time as a Ducati rider beyond the end of his current contract with the Bologna factory as the 2027 MotoGP rider market begins.

After winning the 2025 MotoGP title, Marquez said he thought the 2026 market would be one of the most difficult to judge of his career in MotoGP because so many riders are out of contract at the same time as a major rule change.

Only Toprak Razgatlioglu, Diogo Moreira, and Johann Zarco have contracts for 2027 at the moment, so all of the championship’s major players are still yet to decide their own futures, including Marquez.

The Spaniard will enter this year’s championship as the clear favourite to win the title after winning 11 races on his way to the 2025 crown in his first year with the Ducati Lenovo Team.

The performance of Marquez’s old brand, Honda, towards the end of last year, as well as the emergence of Aprilia as a legitimate challenger to Ducati, saw speculation swirl that Marquez could move away from Ducati in 2027, but the nine-time world champion has made it clear that he intends to stay put for the rule change.

“If you check my career, if I’m in a team where I feel good, where I’m fast, and everything is working well, I try to don’t move,” Marc Marquez told MotoGP.com at the Ducati Lenovo Team launch.

“So, of course, my first option is to try to be in Ducati [in 2027], but step-by-step. 

“It looks like every time the contracts close earlier and earlier. Of course we are in conversations, but I need to evaluate all the things.”

Ducati Lenovo Team Manager Davide Tardozzi added that the team is prioritising the renewal of Marquez in its 2027 rider plans.

“First of all, we are looking to try to renew the world champion [Marquez], because that’s obvious, like we did with Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] in the past, but then we will see,” Tardozzi told MotoGP.com.

“In this moment, we are really focused to the first test and then we will see. We are not under pressure, again we would like to fix, if it is possible, the world champion, and then we will see.”

<H2>Bagnaia “quite calm about it”

The priority given to Marquez means Ducati Lenovo’s previous champion, Francesco Bagnaia, has been pushed down a step in the pecking order compared to when he renewed his contract ahead of the 2024 season to remain in red for 2025 and 2026.

The three-time world champion could well find himself outside of the factory Ducati team by the end of the year following his disastrous 2025 season, but he insists he is relaxed about his future.

“Honestly, I’m quite calm about it,” Bagnaia said.

“I just want to start the season and think about the [2026] season because I know it will be a big change, regulation change, many riders finish their contracts, so it will be important to have a good mentality on the championship and then I’m quite calm about what will be next year.”