Spain’s Marc Márquez and his Ducati Lenovo Team were triumphant in the Thai GP, the opening race of the 2025 MotoGP season.
Runner-up was his 28-year-old younger brother Alex Márquez (Ducati Gresini Racing Team), with Marc Marquez’s Ducati Lenovo team-mate Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, of Italy, third at the finish line for what was an all-Ducati top four as the season began.
It was the first win with the Borgo Panigale red colours for 32-year-old multi-time MotoGP world champion Marc Márquez – last year on a Ducati satellite team and before that racing for the HRC Honda factory – happy to be back atop the standings for the first time in 93 GPs.
Italy’s Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Racing Team) finished fourth at the Buriram circuit in Thailand on Sunday.
Following a perfect start from pole, Marc Márquez surprisingly gave up the lead to sibling rival Alex on lap seven.
Márquez still stayed on his brother’s tail and eventually overtook him to snatch the lead again at turn 12 with just four laps left, before making his way to what seemed in the end to be a comfortable race win.
Bagnaia had a good start but could not defend the second position he took at turn two. In the closing stages he tried to bridge the gap, eventually crossing the line 0.6s shy of second place.
Márquez leads the championship standings after season opener with maximum points, 37. Bagnaia is third, 14 points in arrears. Ducati leads the manufacturers’ standings (37 points), with the Ducati Lenovo Team on top of the team standings (60 points).
The second Grand Prix of the season will take place at Termas de Río Hondo in Argentina on March 14-16.
Marc Márquez: “It was truly the perfect weekend. Results aside, the important thing is the incredible feeling I have with the bike and the team. The strategy for the race was to push hard in the early stages to create a gap and then try to manage it.
“As the laps went by, however, I noticed I was at the limit with regards to the front-end tyre pressure and I had no choice but to give up one position.
“It was really hard to be in Alex’s slipstream with this heat as I struggled breathing properly. I waited for the right moment to retake the lead and create the right margin, and things went as I had hoped. I’m happy.”
Alex Márquez: “I’m really happy with my weekend. I’m saying that still we are a little bit behind compared to Marc [Márquez] and Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia], but this gives to us a good base and we need to keep working like this.”
Photo courtesy Ducati
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Buriram, Thailand: MotoGP World Champs standings:
POS Rider NAT Team (Bike) Points Diff
1 Marc Marquez SPA, Ducati Lenovo (GP25) 37, –
2 Alex Marquez SPA, BK8 Gresini Ducati (GP24) 29, 8
3 Francesco Bagnaia ITA, Ducati Lenovo (GP25) 23, 14
4 Franco Morbidelli ITA, Pertamina VR46 Ducati (GP24) 18, 19
5 Ai Ogura JPN, Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP25) 17, 20
6 Marco Bezzecchi ITA, Aprilia Racing (RS-GP25) 10, 27
7 Brad Binder RSA, Red Bull KTM (RC16) 10, 27
8 Johann Zarco FRA, Castrol Honda LCR (RC213V) 9, 28
9 Enea Bastianini ITA, Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16) 7, 30
10 Fabio Di Giannantonio ITA, Pertamina VR46 Ducati (GP25) 6, 31
11 Jack Miller AUS, Pramac Yamaha (YZR-M1) 5, 32
12 Fabio Quartararo FRA, Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) 4, 33
13 Pedro Acosta SPA, Red Bull KTM (RC16) 4, 33
14 Luca Marini ITA, Honda HRC Castrol (RC213V) 4, 33
15 Fermin Aldeguer SPA, BK8 Gresini Ducati (GP24) 3, 34
16 Miguel Oliveira POR, Pramac Yamaha (YZR-M1) 2, 35
17 Joan Mir SPA Honda, HRC Castrol (RC213V) 1, 36