Marc Marquez Leaves His Mark in Argentina Practice

Marc Marquez led the field in practice ahead of the Argentina Grand Prix sprint race. Marquez dominated practice setting a MotoGP lap record at Gran Premio YPF Energía de Argentina. Marquez appears to be well ahead of the field. His chemistry on the Ducati seems to be a synergetic as he appears to be getting fastest and faster; the more time he spends on this motorcycle. He sent the overall lap record during practice which raises questions as to whether he has run a full race strategy yet. Marques may have more pace and tomorrow in qualifying we will see where the true gap lies.

His teammate and former champion Francesco Bagnaia crash with 5 minutes to go in Practice.

Practice Results

After a dominant performance in the opening round of the 2025 MotoGP season. Marc Marquez has emerged as the front runner after winning both the Sprint and grand prix in Thailand. Marquez led every session in the first round and will look to continue that trend as he heads in to first practice tomorrow afternoon. Also of note, brother, Alex Marquez having grabbed two second place finishes on the last outing is looking to best his brother aboard his BK8 Gresini Racing Ducati.

Marc Marquez is the most winning rider in Argentina with three race wins to his name over the years. Marc Marquez holds records for the all time lap record and most number of pole positions. The course is just under 3 miles long with a series of 14 turns which allows for multiple drafting and overtaking opportunities; especially on the straights. Will Marc Marquez emerge as an early season favorite to make a run at the championship? Time will tell, but its clear the Ducati Lenovo Racing team has more up their sleeve and after a weekend work of data gathering we can almost guarantee the bikes on grid will be faster leaving plenty of mystery in terms of race strategy and

Rookie Ai Ogura whom had a double points finish in the opening round will look for redemption this weekend in Argentina as he get acclimated with his new post. Action kicks off with Practice 1 on Friday.

Pirelli is set to begin a new partnership with MotoGP as the tire supplier for the MotoGP Championship Series starting in 2027. The change also coincides with the new technical regulations put forth by the FIM and Dorna that will also take root in 2027. Pirelli currently supplies tires for Moto3 and Moto2. As a natural progression, all three classes will run the same manufacturer of tire which many proponents believe will normalize the playing field for the racers.

Michelin will continue to support the series Until the end of the 2026 MotoGP season.

Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo) has emerged as the early season favorite after securing maximum points in the riders standings with another win in the Thai Grand Prix. The podium stayed the same as the sprint race with Marc Marquez’ brother Alex Marquez finishing P2 and Ducati Lenovo teammate Francesco Bagnaia finishing P3. Many fans casted doubt on Marquez’ move to Ducati Lenovo but today he put those doubts to rest with an exquisite performance.

Marquez said, “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.”

Words from Alex Marquez

In celebration with his team and brother Alex Marquez had the following words. “It was a great weekend. Today we gave it all and an excellent result came; we knew we could repeat the same type of race as yesterday, but it’s not a given over a 26-lap distance. We’re leaving Thailand with plenty of points and awareness of our strength. Marc and Pecco have something more but we’re working on staying with them at each race: we managed to do so here and we must be very happy with it.”

A disappointed Francesco Bagnaia settle for P3 again but took some positives form the weekend. “I was expecting a bit more today but honestly speaking, the race was a very long one and I couldn’t bridge the gap,” he said. “I tried to get closer to Alex, but each time I was less than half a second away from him, I ended up struggling grip-wise…I tried everything I could but my feeling wasn’t perfect today. We lost 14 points this weekend, but we need to look forward and try our best in Argentina. It’s not my favorite circuit, and this one wasn’t either, but we’ll do our best to get a good result.”

Of Note

Ai Ogura finished the race P5 after previously scoring points in the sprint race. The rookie secured 17 points on his MotoGP debut weekend. Ogura said, “This weekend was just a miracle! I had a good Qualifying, a good Sprint Race and even a great main Race – I can’t thank my team enough…I had another good experience today, all the race behind Franco (Morbidelli) and in the front there were another three guys on Ducati. I really learned a lot from them, it was a fantastic experience. It was perfect and a good start. I’m still a rookie and at another track it’s maybe a completely different story. I just want to keep going my way and I’m open to take anything, the bad or the good.”

Full Race Results from the Thai Grand Prix

Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo) turned his maiden pole position into victory during the Thai GP Tissot Sprint race. In poetic fashion his brother, Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing) whom started the race P2 finished P2 providing the brothers with their first shared podium. Francesco Bagnaia round out the top three which was the same order the riders finished during qualifying. Track position mattered in the sprint as Marc Marquez took off from the start. After a few laps he had already built up a sizable lead on Alex Marquez. The riders would hold their positions for the race.

MotoGP rookie Ai Ogura scored points in his first ever MotoGP sprint race after finishing 4th. Ogura has made it clear that the time gained during the pre season testing events has paid off come race weekend. Ogura finished less than a second off of Francesco Bagnaia’s pace. The rookie is already showing that he is ready for the big stage. Tomorrow Ogura has another opportunity to score points in his first MotoGP debut. Is his surprise ascension a sign of growth for the sport?

Sprint Race Results

After leading practice on Friday Marc Marquez topped the tables yet again in qualifying setting him up to start from the front of the pack in the season opening Sprint race. Marc Marquez qualified P1 alongside his broth Alex Marquez who races for Gresini Racing. Marc Marquez’ Ducati Lenovo Teammate Francesco Bagnaia finishing P3 after having to fight through Q1 due to a poor finish in Practice which sets the pecking order for qualifying.

In Q2 Marco Bezzecchi and Joan Mir crashed which brought out yellow flags; cutting down the 15 minute session. The closing minutes were a scramble to get in lap times due to the time lost under yellow. However, no one could best Marc Marquez which will set him up for the weekend to chase after his first win with Ducati Lenovo.

Top 10 from Qualifying

Aprilia Racing has confirmed that Jorge Martin will miss the opening Thai GP round for his MotoGP title defense. Martin injured his hand in a preseason testing incident and will undergo surgery this week to correct the issue. This surgery is separate from his previous injury sustain on day one of the Sepang test earlier this year. He will be temporarily replaced by Lorenzo Savadori for the first round while he recovers. There are no current estimates on rehabilitation time as of yet.

Aprilia Racing has announced that Jorge Martin’s rehabilitation is going according to plan ahead of the Thai Grand Prix season opener. Martin suffered hand and foot injuries during the Sepang Test that omitted his participation in this weekend’s sessions at Chang International Circuit in Thailand. Unfortunately for Martin, his title defense may come with an certain start as we will no know his true status until practice kicks off next weekend.

Martin’s suffered a closed fracture of the fifth metacarpal head of the right hand and a closed fracture of the third, fourth and fifth metatarsals of the left foot after his crash. with just under a month of recovery it is yet to be determine whether enough time has passed for him to heal enough to compete at 100% health. We will report more as this story develops in the coming week.

As Marc Marquez heads into the 2025 MotoGP season he has ignited a media frenzy. Marquez set the fastest lap in the Thailand Test this week. Marquez who is now racing for the factory Ducati Lenovo MotoGP team made a statement by setting a 1m28.855 lap. He topped FP2 and FP3 but a shift in testing priorities for the final session saw him fall down the time tables which Marco Bezzecchi topped after FP4, but with a slower time.

Marquez said, “The most important thing is to have completed the very long to do list we had at the beginning of these five days of testing. I’m happy, I have the confidence I wanted on the bike and we worked hard and well with the whole Team. We still need to sort out a couple of things, but I’m satisfied and can’t wait to get back here for the race. The goal was to have a balanced bike, we succeeded and this is the reason that pushed us to make some conservative technical decisions. I did a long run simulation and we are competitive even after 23 laps done at 3pm in the afternoon heat.”

Ducati Lenovo Team Technical Director Davide Barana Offered His Thoughts

Barana said, “We are satisfied with the performance both on the time attack and the race simulations seen at Sepang and here at Buriram. A very challenging 5 days of testing. We had a lot of material to test, but starting from an extremely competitive base, we preferred to adopt a prudent approach. I have to say that both riders gave very precise feedbacks, this helped us a lot in setting the bikes for the first race and decide which upgrades to postpone instead.” 

Ducati has emerged as the dominant manufacturers so far in 2025. The teams will aim to be ready for the season opener, the Thailand Grand Prix which will take place in 2 weeks time.

The Sepang Shakedown kicked off the pre season testing events before the teams head into official testing for the 2025 MotoGP season. The top performing rookie was Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) who finished 4th fastest and 4 tenths behind former MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo. Quartararo participated in the shakedown to test out a new chassis from Yamaha. Despite rumors of a new V4 from Yamaha there was no evidence of this type of engine build.

Shakedown Results