“From what I’ve heard,” the MotoGP rider’s data that Marc Marquez obsessed over

Marc Marquez would apparently study incessantly the data of a certain MotoGP rider before bursting onto the scene.

The young Marc Marquez was a budding star with world titles at 125cc and Moto2 levels spanning just three seasons.

He was due to step into MotoGP with Honda alongside Casey Stoner, before the legend’s early retirement.

It has been claimed that Marquez would obsess over the data of the incredible Stoner - and has developed a riding style inspired by him.

“I watched a documentary where [Stoner] was in the 250cc and would just crash, go faster, crash. He refused that the bike didn’t work,” Scott Redding told the Motorsport Republic podcast.

“Marc is the same. Marc learned from Casey. Marc looked at Casey’s data.

“From what I heard, Marc was like ‘Stoner, Stoner, Stoner’...

“Now Marc rides like Stoner. The way he turns the bike, like at Turn 3 at Phillip Island. I’m pretty sure he studied that  for months.

“If you put them both in a black suit, I’d be able to [tell them apart] but it would be pretty f****** hard.

“The way they ride, he picks up the bike, how he attacks the corner, these details. It is like a Stoner Junior.

“That’s why Marc had massive crashes, because he wanted to win so badly. That’s the mentality side.”

Casey Stoner could 'ride any bike'

Stoner retired early with two MotoGP championships under his belt, for Ducati and Honda.

Marquez is fighting for a ninth world title this year, his first in Ducati colours after spending his heyday at Honda after Stoner retired.

Marquez is already arguably better than Stoner, and any other MotoGP rider ever, in many experts’ eyes.

But Stoner, who came a generation before him, remains feted for his brilliance.

“It didn’t seem to matter to him [which bike he was on],” Redding said.

“Most riders, including myself, I thought I could ride any bike. That got shown up at BMW!

“I just can’t ride that type of bike. I thought I could, but it turns out I can’t.

“Him? He can ride any type of bike.”