Alex Marquez Tops Sepang MotoGP Test
T
o the surprise of no one, the
first MotoGP test of 2025
concluded with a Marquez on
top. Yet the first name was one
few were expecting. Alex Mar
-
quez (Ducati) capped a brilliant
three days in Malaysia by leading
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) at
the close of testing by just seven-
thousandths of a second.
Much like Wednesday and
Thursday, Ducati engineers could
toast a job well done. Four of the
top five were Bologna bikes, with
its year-old GP24 first and fourth
(Franco Morbidelli), while factory
riders Bagnaia and Marc Mar
-
quez (fifth) were extremely fast
despite having reservations over
Ducati's GP25 machine.
More than the final timesheets,
much interest surrounded the
flurry of Sprint simulations over
the day. Both Marquez brothers
were in ominous shape, with Al-
ex's average lap time over 10 laps
at 1:57.901. His older brother's
average was just 0.025 slower,
with both riders more than half a
second faster per lap than Jorge
Martin's Sprint winning times
from last November.
Questions still remain over
Ducati's GP25. "The good prob
-
lem of Ducati," Marc called it. "We
start from a base that won (16)
races of 20. This is something
difficult to improve and you need
to be very sure that it is better
because with the '24 you can
fight for the championship, 100
percent." The two-day outing in
Thailand will be crucial to gain
confirmation.
The one fly in the ointment
came from one of Ducati's old
foes. Fabio Quartararo was third
fastest, his best of 1:56.724 a
whopping eight-tenths of a sec-
ond faster than he managed here
a year ago. To be so fast on one
of the days could be viewed as
a fluke. The fact the 2021 World
Champion was ever-present
WIND
IN THE
P24
Alex Marquez had three
strong days to top the
Sepang test on his
Ducati GP24.
