After two years at the helm of Ducati’s MXGP project, Marco Maddii has started a new challenge with Honda. Having helped lay the groundwork for a young and evolving team—achieving podiums, holeshots, and solid overall results—Maddii reflects on his time with Ducati, the lessons learned, and the progress made despite the ups and downs. Now, with a fresh roster and strong support from Honda, he’s focused on building momentum in the EMX250 class while guiding rising talents like Maxime Grau, Niccolò Alvisi, and Elias Escandell. We caught up with Maddii as opens up about the transition between manufacturers, the challenges of preparing young riders, and his vision for the team’s future.
GateDrop: Marco, let’s touch on Ducati first of all. You ran that setup for two years, one year in Italy and one year in MXGP. Just how proud of you of the job you’ve done there, I feel like you left a good foundation…
Maddii: I think we did a great job. It’s a new project in the toughest category of the world for motocross, so it was for sure really difficult for us to step in as a new manufacturer in MXGP. But I think we did great things, two podiums, some holeshots, two-times with Mattia Guadagnini. We got two times fourth place overalls with Jeremy Seewer and two times on the podium. I think as a first year with Ducati, last year we did a great job. We missed consistency, we had some up and downs – this was our weak point. But even at the end of the season, we finished quite good in Australia with Mattia and even the MXoN was quite good with Jeremy. So overall I’m happy and proud of the job we have done, but obviously we needed more time and I think we were on a good way. I think we did a good job and I’m happy with what we did.
GateDrop: The paddock probably isn’t the best it’s ever been at the moment. Whenever it was clear you wouldn’t be staying with Ducati, I mean was it easy for this deal to fall into place? Did you have many offers – can you just talk me through the process?
Maddii: We had a few offers but we spoke with Honda and Giacomo Garibaldi – it was quite easy for us to find an agreement. From the beginning, we liked the program and we really felt good with Honda and how the deal was. It was easy, we had some conversations and then the deal was done.
GateDrop: Can you tell me a little bit about the support you’re getting from Honda? I mean it’s probably not full factory, but you’re getting a little bit of support?
Maddii: We get support from Honda, good support to make our team working and ready. As a first year I think it’s really really good support from Honda so we’re very very happy and proud of the deal and support we get from Honda. It’s the first year so we just started the same and I hope we can improve and get in competition.
GateDrop: There was a bit of sad news before Argentina when Marc-Antoine Rossi announced that he was going to temporarily step away from the sport. I mean a big talent, it’s pretty disappointing that he’s came to that decision, but what was it like to work with in the short time you had?
Maddii: It was good but I could see that Marc had not the best motivation for Motocross anymore and it was good, but like I said, I could see that there was something wrong and this came out after the first race we had together. He told me that Motocross was not his priority in life anymore and he was a little bit scared to get more injuries. He told me that actually he would like to try Enduro and I have seen on social media that he is riding enduro with the Honda team in Italy. I think he can do great things in Enduro if he finds his world and his ambience. He’s for sure a big talent and he’s really young so I hope that for him this change will be good.
GateDrop: Maxime Grau, obviously it was very late signing him before Argentina, I mean how many times did he even have on the bike before going to Argentina?
Maddii: We didn’t have even have three weeks full on the bike because he arrived to us three weeks before Argentina. We did some testing then he went back home to take all his stuff, he travelled one week around Europe, he came back to do another week of testing, we flew to Argentina. In Argentina he had a big crash so it was kind of a rollercoaster for him and for us the last month. So let’s say that we still have to start to work, we just now put together everything, put together the bike, made some testing but you know we need three months of solid work in the winter. We need to have a little bit of patience and don’t rush things, we just need to make races and build it up step by step. But I think today he had a decent race, the second moto was better for sure, sand was never his thing so for sure they were tough conditions for him but he improved a lot. We just keep working hard, do the best we can do every week and do the most races we can.
GateDrop: What’s it been like working with him in this short period so far? I suppose the main thing is trying to get him 100% comfortable on the bike…
Maddii: It was really good working with him, a really good kid, really good motivation, positive attitude, so we really like him. We are really happy to work with Maxime, we had a great feeling, so we are in the same line for the program and we as a team and him as a rider want to grow and be better every weekend so we are really in the same line.
GateDrop: Niccolo Alvisi, a very very big talent, obviously EMX 125 champion last year, I do know he had a bit of an injury over the winter, what’s it been like getting him ready for this race?
Maddii: He had a big injury in September in the last race he did with KTM and he was out for almost three months. He came back in December but let’s say started training more seriously in January so it’s still early for him. The injury he had was really big still today he has some issue from the injury. You know stepping into the EMX250 series is a big step coming from the 125cc and today he was more tired than yesterday but overall I’m quite happy. He showed great things, good speed in the qualifying and he made some good laps on the moto’s and like I said he needs some training, some time and also recover from the injury that was quite big.
GateDrop: Once he’s fully up to speed though and learns a little bit in the class and gets his wrist sorted out, I mean what are your goals for him, what do you think he can do?
Maddii: Our goal is to stay in top five, maybe fight for some podiums this year and I think this is really possible – it’s a long championship, many rounds and a long season. It’s just his first serious race, it’s just the first important race he has had since last year, he was a little bit nervous and he didn’t know what to expect exactly. I think he’s going to be more ready this weekend.
GateDrop: And Elias Escandell, have you got an update on him? Obviously he’s out injured for this weekend, can we expect him back soon?
Maddii: We will expect him back soon in Trentino, we still need to wait a little bit for racing. He’s riding already but just taking it easy, doing some laps but for racing we need to wait a little bit. He broke his knee in November unfortunately and then he had the surgery so we need some time. I hope to have him back in Trentino, I expect some races for sure to be back in the right pace and I think he can do great things.
GateDrop: Nicky Mannini is somebody you have worked with before in the past, obviously he also left the team, just what was the reasons for that and do you think you’ll be replacing him?
Maddii: No, we are not going to replace him. The reason was that our plans were not aligned anymore with his plans so we wanted three riders to really focus on the EMX 250 and he was not really sure, in fact he was not here with his new team in Spain so I think he’s going to do only some rounds here and there and race the Italian championship. Like I said, we want the three riders fully focused and with expectation that we can do good results in the EMX250 class. think he’s going to have a lighter program for this first year in the 250cc and that’s it.
GateDrop: How many years have you signed with Honda, is it a one-year deal or longer?
Maddii: We have signed a one year deal.
GateDrop: I’m guessing you’re hoping that you can build on this and stay with Honda for a while?
Maddii: With Honda we are talking and we are making plans for the future so we expect a long-term relationship and like I said, we are happy to be with Honda.
