The Marquez brothers take Catalonia by storm
In the final race, Alex Marquez (#73), the younger brother, beat Marc Marquez (#93) to win the race ©MotoGP.com
In the second qualifying session (Q2) of the Catalan Grand Prix, Alex Marquez (Ducati) took pole position, followed by Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) in second and Marc Marquez (Ducati) in third.
Japanese rider Ai Ogura (Aprilia) started from the third row in eighth place, a good grid position following the opening round in Thailand.
In the sprint race, Alex Marquez, who excels at this circuit, was leading the race, but he crashed on lap 9 and had to retire, allowing Marc Marquez, who had been running in second place, to take the lead and win the race.
Quartararo came in second, his best sprint race result of the season. Fabio Di Gianantonio (Ducati) came in third. Ogura was affected by a drop in position on the first lap and finished in ninth place.
As a result, Ducati won the constructors’ championship for the 2025 season, marking their sixth consecutive year since 2020.
After the sprint race, Franco Morbidelli (Ducati) and Fermin Aldeguer (Ducati) were given long lap penalties for causing crashes involving other riders in the sprint race, while Joan Mir (Honda) was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding other riders by driving slowly at Turn 5 in Qualifying 1 (Q1).
In Sunday’s race, Marc Márquez took the holeshot, followed by pole-sitter Alex Márquez in second, Pedro Acosta in third, and Fabio Quartararo in fourth.
On the fourth lap, Alex Marquez, who was in second place, overtook Marc Marquez to take the lead. Alex Marquez, who was in second place, Marc Marquez, Acosta in third place, and Enea Bastianini (KTM) in fourth place formed the leading group.
By the 10th lap, midway through the race, the gap between the four bikes gradually began to widen. Alex Márquez, who was in the lead, had built up a lead of about 0.35 seconds over second-placed Marc Márquez. The gap between second-placed Marc Márquez and third-placed Acosta and fourth-placed Bastianini was now more than 0.5 seconds, with Alex Márquez and Marc Márquez each running alone. The battle for third place was now between Acosta and Bastianini, both on KTMs.
On lap 11, Bastianini overtook Acosta under braking for the first corner, and the positions were swapped, with Bastianini in third place and Acosta in fourth.
With two laps remaining, Ogura, who had been holding on to eighth place, overtook 2022 and 2023 champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) under braking for the first corner. Ogura then passed Luca Marini (Honda) to move up to sixth place.
Alex Márquez won the race safely. Marc Márquez finished second. The gap between second-placed Alex Márquez and the leader in the championship standings is now 182 points. As a result, Marc Márquez will not be able to clinch the title at the next race, the San Marino Grand Prix, and the race will have to be postponed until after the Japanese Grand Prix.
Bastianini took third place, his first podium of the season. This was also Bastianini’s first podium with KTM, having moved from Ducati this season. Acosta, also on the KTM team, came in fourth, and Quartararo, who started second, came in fifth.
Ogura improved his position towards the end of the race to finish in 6th place, a good result for him in the final race following his 5th place finish in the opening race, the Thai GP.
The 16th round of the season, the San Marino Grand Prix, will be a back-to-back race that will be held at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in Italy from September 12th to 14th.
