Six-time world champion Marc Marquez warned on Thursday that he has the fire back in his belly ahead of MotoGP's season-opening race in Thailand.
.gif)
The Spanish great has joined double world champion Francesco 'Pecco' Bagnaia at the Ducati factory team – the duo are hailed as a motorcycling dream team by many.
The 32-year-old Marquez enjoyed a strong pre-season on his new bike and speaking ahead of Sunday's race at steamy Buriram he made no attempt to hide his ambitions.
"Always the first race is special, it's a different kind of butterflies in your stomach," said Marquez.
"But it's good because the last years I didn't feel that fire inside the stomach and inside of me.
"This year I know I am in the correct place. I am in the correct team and on the correct bike if I want to fight again for the championship.
"I feel good with the bike, I feel fast, riding in a good way," said Marquez, who joined from Honda and was last world champion in 2019.
But he cautioned: "Test is test, race is race."
COMBUSTIBLE COMBINATION
Marquez and Bagnaia threaten to dominate the 22-race season, but some observers have cautioned that the high-octane mix of two fast high-profile racers could prove too combustible.
The 28-year-old Italian Bagnaia said: "It will be an intense fight, we know how strong Marc is."
"It's not a secret that we both want to win the championship," he added.
"I think many times this season we will fight.
"We will work together to improve the team and then during the race fight, and the best will win."
The start of the new season has been overshadowed by the absence of world champion Jorge Martin.
The Spaniard suffered fractures to his right hand and left foot in a horror crash during pre-season testing in Malaysia.
Then his Aprilia team said on Tuesday that Martin suffered another mishap in training and had to have more surgery.
Aprilia now say he will miss both Buriram and the next race, in Argentina in mid-March.
Marquez and Bagnaia said they had both texted him to wish him a speedy recovery.
"I told him, just respect your body," said Marquez, healthy again after a long recovery from a crash in 2020.
"I didn't respect my body in the past and I paid the price."