When the race build-up started with a talented pair dancing the tango at the front of the grid, we should’ve known it’ll serve as a premonition for how the 25 laps of the premier class battle would unfold. Although the outcome was a predictable prosecco shower for Marc Marquez, celebrating his 90th grand prix success, he got more of a challenge from Alex Marquez this time around. The Gresini rider took advantage of a few rare mistakes from his sibling to lead much of the race, before admitting defeat once more. The slight change to the podium was on its third step, where the familiar face of Pecco Bagnaia was replaced by a jubilant Franco Morbidelli, who returned to the podium for the first time since 2021.
To no one’s surprise, Marc Marquez made an excellent launch off the line, staying ahead of Alex into turn 1, while Bagnaia once again demoted front-row starter Johann Zarco for 3rd. However, the Honda man managed to hold onto 4th this time around and even had a brief go at the Italian on the opening lap. Fabio Di Giannantonio was in the top 5 early on but was soon challenged by Morbidelli and a fast-starting Brad Binder, with Pedro Acosta, Joan Mir and Ai Ogura completing the top 10 on the opening lap. Meanwhile, contact between Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Quartararo at the first corner saw the Italian slide through the gravel and left the Frenchman at the very back of the field (although he did recover to score on point in the end).
The Marquez duo were immediately the quickest men on track, so they hardly needed the help, but they still got a helping hand from Zarco who kept harassing Bagnaia over the first couple of laps. Left to sort things between themselves, a rare mistake from Marc Marquez running wide at the first corner opened the door for Alex to make a move for the lead at the start of lap 4. The exchange didn’t make much difference to the seven-tenth gap over their rivals, as Bagnaia seemed to struggle to run the same pace and soon passed the baton to pal Morbidelli, who picked up the chase after a handful of laps. Bagnaia had a bit of a queue forming behind him as well, with Zarco, Binder, Di Giannantonio, Ogura, Mir and Acosta tagging along for the ride. Alex Rins led the next group two seconds down the road.
Back at the front, Alex Marquez was keeping his brother under control, but a threat was starting to materialise from behind, where Morbidelli was picking up the pace in a last-ditch attempt to bridge the gap to the duo. Bagnaia didn’t seem to have the pace to match, at the 10-lap mark at least, when the Italian was stuck one second behind the podium positions but at least managed to shake off most of the pursuit, with the exception of Zarco. A second and a half down the road, Binder led the fight for 6th place, with Di Giannantonio and Ogura as his biggest challengers, but Mir and Acosta were not fully out of contention either. That gradually changed over the next few laps, as the Spaniards squabbled for 9th and were dropping tenths to the men ahead, but once Acosta made the decisive move at the halfway point of proceedings, he picked up the pace and left Mir to worry about teammate Luca Marini’s late race pace.
Despite Morbidelli’s best efforts, the hot pace set by Alex Marquez at the front allowed the leaders to keep the Italian at arm’s length and they escaped one second ahead by lap 12. Unlike two weeks ago, Marc Marquez seemed to be on the limit while chasing down his brother, getting a few warnings along the way, although it didn’t really lose him any time. The siblings were inseparable as the race entered its final 10 laps, but the next move didn’t come until eight laps remaining, when Marc Marquez had a go at turn five but went in hot and allowed Alex to sweep back in. While the poleman regrouped for another assault, the threat from behind was limited, with Morbidelli dropping three seconds back and managing a one second gap to Bagnaia, who was still busy holding off Zarco. Meanwhile, Di Giannantonio finally took 6th from Binder with nine laps to go and quickly distanced the KTM man, attempting a late chase of Zarco. Seventh place seemed pretty secure for Binder, although Ogura seemed to be closing in after escaping unscathed from the battle with the other factory KTM of Acosta.
Tension stayed high at the front of the race, as a ragged Marc Marquez was sniffing around the leader until eventually making a move stick into turn five, reclaiming the lead with five laps to go. This time around Alex Marquez had no immediate response and seemed to throw in the towel along with nine tenths of a second over the next lap. Once the Marquezes settled the score, all eyes moved to the shrinking gap between Morbidelli and Bagnaia – the two separated by only half a second as they started the final lap. Regardless, Morbidelli eventually secured a long-awaited return to the podium as Bagnaia waved the white flag. Di Giannantonio was more successful in applying pressure in the battle for 5th and demoted Zarco at the final corner. Binder held off Ogura for 7th, while Acosta resisted a late charge from Mir and Marini to hold onto 9th.
Marquez’s perfect start to the season sees him gain a 16-point advantage over Alex in the world championship standings, with Bagnaia losing more ground to his teammate, now 31 points behind. Morbidelli closes in to 37 points, with Ogura holding onto the top five – 49 points off the lead.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time/Diff |
1 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Ducati | 41:11.100 |
2 | 73 | Alex Marquez | Ducati | 1.362 |
3 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Ducati | 4.695 |
4 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 5.536 |
5 | 49 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Ducati | 7.138 |
6 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Honda | 7.487 |
7 | 33 | Brad Binder | KTM | 14.294 |
8 | 79 | Ai Ogura | Aprilia | 14.447 |
9 | 37 | Pedro Acosta | KTM | 15.646 |
10 | 36 | Joan Mir | Honda | 15.787 |
11 | 10 | Luca Marini | Honda | 16.025 |
12 | 42 | Alex Rins | Yamaha | 21.663 |
13 | 12 | Maverick Viñales | KTM | 22.319 |
14 | 43 | Jack Miller | Yamaha | 23.486 |
15 | 20 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha | 25.148 |
16 | 25 | Raul Fernandez | Aprilia | 26.914 |
17 | 54 | Fermin Aldeguer | Ducati | 27.661 |
18 | 23 | Enea Bastianini | KTM | 40.179 |
19 | 35 | Somkiat Chantra | Honda | 41.693 |
Did not finish first lap | ||||
72 | Marco Bezzecchi | Aprilia |
Comments
Hell of a good rider that…
Hell of a good rider that Binder. Nearly got beat by Ogura the rookie though.
Fernandez is going to need some epic rides to keep his job. If this carries on, next to Ogura, it's all over.
It’s early in the season but …
.. I’m hoping this pattern continues. No, I don’t mean the Marquez bros dominating the top two steps of the podium, but seeing some real speed from rookie Ogura, and from veteran Zarco on a Honda. Though I’m disappointed that Maverick and Bestia are struggling with the KTM, Binder and Acosta are showing that the bike isn’t totally a bust.
In reply to It’s early in the season but … by dman904
Well, what I want to know is…
Well, what I want to know is...where will Binder move for 2026 ? He MUST have a better bike, he must be on a machine good enough to compete at the front for the sake of the sport....etc etc nudge wink best KTM.
Oof
If this is what the year is going to look like, and I think it is, we are in for some boring stuff. Five Ducs in the top six: Marc predictably dropping the hammer on his younger brother 5 or 6 laps from the end of every race, and the rest of the field pretty much sucking wind does not make for much entertainment.
I can see why DORNA did not want Marc going to Ducati. Here is hoping the concessions to Honda and Yamaha bear some fruit!
Man, I'm gonna need a lot of…
Man, I'm gonna need a lot of coffee to get through this season.
Man, I'm gonna need a lot of…
Man, I'm gonna need a lot of coffee to get through this season.
Watched the first 3 laps and…
Watched the first 3 laps and the last 3. MM going for his record number of wins in a season?
Or trying to take us back to the Doohan era
In reply to Watched the first 3 laps and… by Grahamuk-oz
Watching the first and the last three laps...
you missed a lot. Marc had to push pretty hard, much more so than in Thailand to my eye. Also better then normal scrapping down the order, considering the current state of the bikes re aero etc.
I personally hope that Marc wins every race this year, he deserves it. But I'm not in the camp of recency bias that has already awarded him championships for this year and next, and written off Pecco as a broken man. A lot can happen in motorcycle racing, even disregarding the ever-present threat of injury.
Marc's dominance....
I think you're looking in the wrong direction!
MM93 will have opposition this year but not from a Ducati! I'm pretty sure Honda will continue to improve with Yamaha on the TRANSVERSE four and not the V-4 also coming through. I can see that Aprilia has, since it lost their testing and parts advantage's three years ago, have nearly stalled. KTM are going to drop to fifth by mid-season and announce their withdrawel at the end of 2025.
I see the Japanese pair coming back hard. Yamaha have Quatararo but Mir and Miller won't run the front now. I don't think Zarco can front run anymore. Rins can but Marini can't. I reckon Quatararo only needs a bit more from the bike and he'll do the rest.
Within Ducati though, just Marc Marquez; that's it.
The take-away is boredom.
The usual ‘possibles’ will prevail but I found these first races a double (the sprints were short enough to be mildly interesting beyond lap 3) snooze fest, not improved by any mid-pack shenanigans.
Bagnia has not got himself up to speed quickly enough and his or any other challenge to the M boys seems vanishingly unlikely. Possible, but……. The Ducati data mine for Europe is deep and rich - especially for very similar 24/25 bikes and MM’s ride-around-the-shortcomings ability, which Bagnia seems to lack (lovely talented guy that he is).
Martin seems to be a long way off and we still don’t know if he is able to exceed Ogura’s ability on the Ap.
Zarco is a star and adds spice and joy, but….
I know it's Marc but it's 2…
I know it's Marc but it's 2 rounds run, 20 to go, 740 points up for grabs. According to some, it's a huge points gap opening up between Pecco and Marc. No championship was ever won thinking it's over at this point. Even if Marc scores 37 at each of the next two rounds (completing the strange tracks), it's still a long way from being over. Sorry to be mean but the outlier here (if one could ever exist after only 2 rounds) is Alex. Yes, he's had a fantastic two rounds, the brothers are helping each other (Marc was always going to look for a seperate 'team' against the Ducati server) but even that isn't going to put Alex ahead of Pecco. I've always liked Alex but unless the factory team completely dump on Pecco (always a possibility once Gigi gets aroused by another rider), he's not beating him. As for Marc, he's an 8 times champ, one of the best ever and nearly binned it twice this Sunday, more will follow. As unlikely as it may seem now, one bad weekend and his 'huge' points lead is gone.
In reply to I know it's Marc but it's 2… by WaveyD1974
Oh stop it, WaveyD. Stop…
Oh stop it, WaveyD. Stop being so practical. A wave of Marquez enthusiasm has swept over the Motogp world lighting up his fan base and even converting a few non-believers. The guy has spent over three years in a dark forest of horrors getting surgeries on a busted, crooked arm until the hotshots at the Mayo clinic 3D printed him a new one. Now he has been reborn in the most competitive team. The GP24.7 ain't as sorted as the Point Zero. Just wait until it is. Then Pecco will be able to battle with Alex, Morbidelli, DiGi, and Martin. But Marc? He won't have to override the thing just to hang with his bro. He is gunna say sayonara, adios amigos, and the rest of the season will be a foregone conclusion. We should start guessing now as to when he will mathematically win the championship. I am thinking after the Japan race in late September. Marc would surely be magnanimous towards the Japanese.
In reply to Oh stop it, WaveyD. Stop… by spongedaddy
Oh, my prediction is title…
Oh, my prediction is title number 9 but 2014/2019 are rare beasts. One thing I noticed in testing was that Pecco was less convinced on dumping the GP25, Marc very quick to do so. So, I guess, the internal war began there. Marc's playing that game now. Let's see how the team respond. They did a good job keeping things even between Pecco and Jorge...let's see. It seems Pecco is 'searching' for his feeling. He wants his old bike and old feeling with it. That might only be a need for a team tummy rub, they'll make the effort to help, we still love you etc. We'll see.
I'm inclined to agree with Wavey here...
I can't believe that Pecco won't be competitive for the whole season, or given the competitiveness of the Aprillia that Martin won't win a race all season. 31 points with 20 rounds to go is nothing, but if you pencil Marc in for double wins at Austin, Sachsenring, Aragon and maybe Phillip Island (he seems to win it or bin it at PI) then all of a sudden it looks like 60+ points in 18 rounds for Pecco, which is already ominous. Marc being magnanimous towards the Japanese, that has to be the comment of the week, it did make me chuckle..
In reply to I'm inclined to agree with Wavey here... by oldholla
2024, Pecco no scored 8…
2024, Pecco no scored 8 times.