Marc Marquez’s adaptation to the✨ Ducati may be more challenging because of hi🗹s advancing years, Simon Crafar believes.

Marquez spent 11 seasons riding for Honda, winning e🍷ight worl💎d championships along the way.

But he has joined Gresin𒊎i to ride a year-old✃ Ducati in 2024, hoping he can fight for the MotoGP title on new machinery.

“He’s in his 30s now,” 𒐪warned ex-racer Crafar from inside the Qatar testing paddock.

“From my own experienceꦦ, it becomes more difficult to adapt🐓.

“The younger you are, th🍷e quicker you can adapt to new bikes, tyres, set-ups.

“You can tell he’s not💯 j🌠oking. He’s not pretending.

“He’s having difficulty changing from the Honda riding sty♍le to the Ducati ridin൩g style.

“But he’s going to do it!”

Marquez, aged 31, had a fairly l🌊ow-key preseason through Sepang and Qatar, after shining in the postseason test at Valencia on his Ducati debut last year.

His crash - his first on a Ducati - in the final hour of the final day of ⛦testing could be interpreted as Marquez finding more confidence to edge nearer to the limit of his new bike.

Craf🐻ar said on the final day of the test: “Whenever it comes to crunch time - which is now, the end of the test, you’ve got to put everything togeth𒉰er and go - you can rely on Marc to pull something out.”

He said about the se🐠ren♎ity within Ducati: “They are totally on target. There’s no chaos.

“All of the ‘23 D⭕ucati riders - meaning Gresini and VR4ꦆ6 - are coming along, as well.

“You can tell that they are getting confident.

“The ones like Alex Marquez and 🍬Marco Bezzecchi, that rode the ‘22 last year, have said that they felt ඣbetter on the ‘23 than the ‘22.

“Marc Marquez is making friends with it now.

“[On Monday] Marc didn’t♈ look good. B💞ut I believe he had more.

🌳“Because he only used three tyres out of nine. Th𝄹e fastest lap time was on a 20-something high-lap tyre.

“So you knew he h🧸ad more in the bag. Sure enough, he showed it [on Tuesday].

“The ‘24 and ‘23 Ducatis look great.”

Marquez’s GP23 is the bike that was used by Francesco Bagnaia🥀 and Jorge Martin as they fought for the championship last year.

But factory Ducati rider Bagnaia and Pramac’s Martin have now stepped onto the GP24, which notably features a new fairing🍸 which every rider has nowဣ accepted is an advancement from last year’s bike.