♎Current KTM test rider Pedrosa, one of the few that Marquez sought advice from before deciding to end his eleven-year Repsol Honda career, tol꧃d MotoGP.com.:

"The first thing we saw was the smile after his first run - that꧋'s not good news for the competition!

“Like everyone, I was al☂so here wanting to see him on the bike today and curious about his performance."

Marquez’s instant speed on the Desmosedici prompted factory Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi to declar🥃e he will be in the title top three:

"He's impressive. He already showed what he will do during the year. I ꧅think for sure🎃 Marc will be one of the top three at the end of the year.”

M🌳arquez went on to feature at the top of the timesheeꩲts, on his way to fourth place.

While Marquez will be targeting an end to his two year victory drought in MotoGP 🎃next season, Pedro🦋sa’s wild-card plans are still to be confirmed.

Although KTM claimed a new high of second🦄 in the MotoGP constructors’ championship this season, behind Ducati, their 51% score of the maximum possible points means they will only be in Ranking C for the new concessions 🐭system.

The ‘C’ ranking (which also includes Aprilia) means access to more testingꦓ ty🔯res compared to this year, and a doubling of possible wild-card entries from 3 to 6.

That could mean Pedrosa - who delighted the Spanish&n💃bsp;fans during a wild-card at Jerez, then fought for the podium at Misano this season - is an even busier man. However, his 2024 sch🎶edule is not yet clear, with Pol Espargaro arriving to take on some test and wild-card duties.

"We don’t have the plan yet, and also Pol will be in the team,” Pedro♐sa said. “I hope we can spread some of the wild-cards [between us] at least because it's quite a big job to prepare the wild-card. But it was good this year and I think all the fans enjoyed it.

"This y💝ear was important [to do the wild-cards] because of the [race weeken𒊎d] format change. Now we have to see what our goals are. Just doing a wild-card doesn't make sense. We need something we want to achieve.”

While watching Marquez start a new era at Gresini, Pedrosa has a more direct role in assisting Spain’s next rising star, Pedro Acosta, who made his MotoGP deꦰbut for the GASGAS Tech3 team at Valencia.

"I had a few words with Pedro [before the test]," Pedrosa said. “I just tried to give him some advice about the tyres, which is the most𝕴 important thing at the beginning."

Acosta was 18th out of the 23 riders, but onlꦍy 1.223s from Aprilia test lea💫der Maverick Vinales, after 70 laps on an RC16.