FINAL MOTLGP STANDINGS

 

MARC MARQUEZ FIGHTS BACK TO TAKE GERMAN MOTOGP SPRINT VICTORY

Marquez takes a debut Sprint win at the Sachsenring - Ducati Media House

Marc Marquez battled through from sixth on the opening lap to seal a comeback victory in the German MotoGP Sprint.

The Spaniard overtook Marco Bezzecchi on the final lap of the race to take a 10th Sprint win of 2025 despite an error at the first corner. 

The wet conditions made it difficult for the field to decide which tyre to choose, with the majority of the grid electing for the soft rear tyre, while Johann Zarco and Luca Marini chose the unfavoured medium.

Marquez made the best start and looked to hold his lead down into the first corner, but ran wide and dropped back down to sixth.

Marco Bezzecchi inherited the lead after Marquez’s error as Franco Morbidelli got the launch from fourth on the grid to take second.

Fabio Quartararo also made a good start from the third row of the grid, and carved his way past Marquez into third. 

Marquez immediately made progress by overtaking Johann Zarco to get back into fifth place, before battling with Fabio Di Giannantonio for fourth. 

The Italian pulled an aggressive move to remain ahead of the Spanish rider as they continued fighting. 

Morbidelli had made good progress but suffered a violent crash at Turn 8 as he exited the race. 

Following his team-mate’s woes, Di Giannantonio surrendered third to Marquez at the start of the fifth lap, as Pedro Acosta followed his compatriot through to demote the VR46 rider to fifth. 

The race stabilised around the seventh lap, with Marquez setting the fastest lap as he attempted to close the two-second gap to Quartararo in second. 

The Spanish rider was lapping half a second faster than the Frenchman as he continued to close the gap. 

Marquez then made his move on Lap 9 as he forced himself and Quartararo wide at the first corner, but managed to make the move stick. 

Bezzecchi set his fastest lap of the race, but Marquez continued to close the gap to the leader by using his superior pace around the circuit. 

As the pair reached the final lap of the race, Marquez used the slipstream to draw level with Bezzecchi going into Turn 1. 

The Spanish rider ran wide, but managed to hang on around the outside as he took the lead for the first time in the race. 

Bezzecchi tried to force a move to regain the lead, but Marquez managed to pull a gap out front to remove any chance of an overtake. 

The eight-time World Champion crossed the line to take the Sprint victory by almost a second after battling back through the order.

Bezzecchi was forced to settle for second place as Quartararo completed the podium in third. 

Di Giannantonio pressured the Frenchman but finished fourth, as Jack Miller rounded out the top five. 

Brad Binder was sixth ahead of Johann Zarco, who struggled on the medium rear tyre in seventh. 

Alex Marquez battled through a hand injury to finish eighth, as Pedro Acosta completed the Sprint points finishers in ninth. 

Fermin Aldeguer completed the top 10 after a battle with Acosta on the final laps of the race, while Miguel Oliveira was 11th.

Francesco Bagnaia struggled in the wet conditions and took the flag in 12th ahead of Raul Fernandez in 13th. 

Joan Mir crossed the line in 14th, with former team-mate Alex Rins trailing behind in 15th. 

Luca Marini was 16th on his first competitive start after injury during the Suzuka 8hr practice, while Ai Ogura finished 17th.

Lorenzo Savadori completed the finishers in 18th, as Morbidelli was the sole retirement of the Sprint. 

Maverick Vinales suffered a dislocated shoulder following his qualifying crash and was declared unfit for the remainder of the weekend. 

- Eden Hannigan

DUCATI DOMINATES THAI MOTIGP WITH MARC MARQUEZ LEADING A PODIUM SWEEP

Apr 12, 2024; Austin, TX, USA; Enea Bastianini (23) of Italy and Ducati Lenovo Team during practice for the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas at Circuit of The Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Ducati asserted its dominance at the 2025 Thai MotoGP with a commanding performance led by Marc Marquez, who completed a flawless weekend by securing pole position, the sprint race victory, and his first grand prix win as a factory Ducati rider. His brother Alex Marquez and reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia completed an all-Ducati podium in the same order, mirroring Saturday’s sprint results.

Marc led the race until Lap 7, when he was overtaken by Alex on Gresini's GP24 machine. However, Marc regained the lead on Lap 23 and created a considerable gap of 1.732 seconds. Although it initially seemed like a mechanical issue had slowed Marc, he quickly regained pace, settling in behind his brother, which appeared to be a strategic move to manage tire pressures. As the race neared its conclusion, Alex struggled with rear grip on the GP24, offering Marc the perfect opportunity to secure victory.

Alex kicked off his 2025 season on a high note with back-to-back runner-up finishes for Gresini at Buriram, while Bagnaia closed the gap mid-race but ultimately settled for third, finishing 0.666s behind. Franco Morbidelli secured fourth for VR46 Ducati, falling three seconds behind the podium battle after briefly challenging Bagnaia for third.

Trackhouse Racing rookie Ai Ogura finished fifth ahead of factory Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi, who trailed by over seven seconds in sixth. Johann Zarco was on the top Honda in seventh, followed by KTM’s Brad Binder, Tech3’s Enea Bastianini, and VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio completing the top ten at the Thai MotoGP.

Marc has been regarded as the favorite for the 2025 season after earning his factory Ducati promotion following a strong campaign with Gresini last year. Paired with Bagnaia, the two multi-time world champions have been identified by TNT Sports MotoGP presenter Neil Hodgson as key contenders set to push each other in the fight for the title. Motorsports On SI reported:

“I think they’re both so talented.

“Obviously Marc’s [Marquez] got more world titles, but I feel like Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] is still improving, still learning, and he’s an absolute machine.

“You write Pecco Bagnaia off at your peril, don’t you? Quite often on a race weekend, he’ll have a really average Friday, even an average Saturday, and he’ll bounce back and win the Grand Prix on Sunday.

“So, I can see it going on and on.

“I think both riders will push each other extremely hard, obviously they share the data so they can copy each other’s homework. So, I think they’ll both push each other.

“I think we’re going to have a season very similar to last year, where you’ve got two riders pushing each other.

“There’ll be lots of mistakes as well, I think there’ll be crashes, I think there’ll be collisions between them, I do, I really do, which is probably not a big statement because we’ve seen it in the past.”

- Saajan Jogia

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FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO ON POLE AT THE ITALIANGP | DUCATI