MARQUEZ NAMES STONER AND DOOHAN AS DREAM MOTOGP RIVALS

Marc Marquez has faced several of MotoGP’s defining riders, including Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa. But asked by Motosprint which past star he would have liked to race, the Ducati rider named two Australians from different eras: Casey Stoner and Mick Doohan.

Stoner is the more recent of the pair. He retired at 27 after struggling with physical and mental fatigue, just before Marquez joined the premier class in 2013 and took his place at Honda. Their potential rivalry remains one of the sport’s great unanswered questions.

“The most recent one [I would have liked to face] is Stoner,” Marquez said, adding that the two have a good relationship. He recalled meeting at World Ducati Week: “He changed in my office, so we often found ourselves together in our underwear!” Former Honda team boss Lucio Cecchinello has suggested Stoner would initially have had the upper hand, before Marquez eventually moved ahead.

Marquez also singled out Doohan, who won five consecutive premier-class titles from 1994 to 1998. “Of the ones I’ve seen with my own eyes, though, I’d say Doohan, because he won five titles in a row,” he said. But while he would welcome a hypothetical contest with Stoner, Marquez admitted: “I’d like to challenge Stoner, but I’m not sure about Doohan.”

The two champions share another connection: both endured serious injuries that threatened their careers. Doohan nearly lost a leg after crashing at Assen in 1992. Marquez, meanwhile, underwent four operations across three seasons after breaking his arm in 2020. Doohan said last year that he had spoken with Marquez several times during his recovery, offering insight from his own experience.

Doohan’s record includes 54 premier-class victories, fourth on the all-time list, as well as 58 poles—second only to Marquez—and 95 podiums, the fifth-highest total.