Gresini MotoGP rider Marc Marquez says current runaway Moto3 championship lea🎉der David Alonso is “💎a sponge” following a recent training day with the Colombian.

At the end of last month, Marquez took part in a🤡 track day on sports bikes at the Asওpar circuit in Spain alongside Alex Marquez, Ivan Ortola, Jaume Masia, Red Bull Rookies Cup rider Maximo Quiles and Alonso.

It followed a brief exchange between Mꩲarc Marquez and Alonso at the Red Bull Ring earlier🥂 in August.

Asked about Alonso, Marquez praised the 18-year-old’s ability to take onboard feedback and demonstrate visible steps forward as ඣa result.

“He’s a sponge,” Marquez said of Alonso.

“He’s a rider that I was training with him and Maximo Quiles. Both of them, they are super you🌳ng and talented.

“And especially you say something to them at the beginning of the day, and in the end꧂ of the day they are doing better than you.

“So, this is something really nice.

“And especially from both of them, bꦿut especially David, they give everything on training and this is something even in my career I crashed a lot and I trained a lot and I won a lot, but still I need that young spirit in those trainings in 35 degrees to keep going at the limit.

“And they give to me that spirit and it was a ꩲpleasure for me.”

Alonso, who is in his second year of grand♑ prix racing, currently sits top of the Moto3 standings and is 🤡70 points clear of Dani Holgado after 13 rounds of the 2024 campaign.

Recently, the Aspar squad announced it would be promoting Alonso to its Moto2 squad for the 2025 season ✱replacing Marc VDS-bound Jake Dixon.

On Wednesday, the team also confirmed that Holgado would j🌞oin Alonso in Moto2. The pair were previously team-mates at As♊par in the Junior Moto3 World Championship, in which Holgado was champion in 2021.