On the penultimate lap,
Bagnaia's chase for second lost
momentum, and Marc Marquez
cruised home for a flawless
Sprint victory—marking the first
time since his standout 2019
season he has been on top of the
points standings. Little brother
Alex comfortably secured sec
-
ond, while Bagnaia settled for
third to
kickstart his season.
The standout ride belonged to
rookie Ogura, finishing a brilliant
fourth, less than a second behind
Bagnaia and well ahead of
Morbidelli. Acosta took sixth, fol
-
lowed by Quartararo, Brad Binder
(Red
Bull KTM) in eighth, Joan
Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) in ninth,
and Johann Zarco (LCR Castrol
Honda) rounding out the top 10.
MOTOGP RACE
Marc Marquez grabbed the hole-
shot and led the early laps, mir-
roring his Sprint performance.
Alex Marquez held second,
while
Bagnaia slotted into third.
Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP
Aprilia) made another strong
start, briefly entering the podium
positions before being shuffled
back, while Acosta crashed at
turn one on lap four.
The race initially mirrored the
Sprint, but there was a surprise
on lap seven. Exiting turn three,
Marc suddenly slowed and
tucked in behind Alex, handing
over the lead. Marc later admit
-
ted he had a low front-tire-pres-
sure warning, meaning he had
three
laps to get the pressure
back into the acceptable range
or else he'd likely face a race-
losing penalty. He thus tucked in
VOLUME 62 ISSUE 9 MARCH 4, 2025 P91
behind his brother, the heat from
Alex's Ducati allowing his front
tire to slowly gain pressure, and
played the waiting game.
Further back, a fierce fight for
sixth involved Bezzecchi, Miller,
Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse
MotoGP Aprilia) and Mir. How
-
ever, Mir's race ended with a
trying to copy what he was doing.
Because to ride behind Pecco for
13 laps in the Sprint is really qual-
ity for me."
EXTREME CONDITIONS
Conditions on Saturday were
among the most extreme in
recent MotoGP history. Ambient
temperatures stood at 100°F for
the MotoGP Sprint, while track
temperatures were a punishing
134°F. Riders across all classes
spoke of struggling to deal with
the heat from their bikes. And
Fabio Di Giannantonio, returning
after breaking his left collarbone at
the Sepang test, was the standout
case. "I got burned on the hands,
on the legs, on the neck. Com-
pletely burning. Like never before.
Ducati is one of the coolest bikes.
So, it's really, really strange. The
bike was working well; everything
was fine. But we have to under-
stand why I am the only rider that
I'm burning myself." It meant the
Italian retired from the Sprint with
three laps to go. "It was not pos-
sible to ride. Like on the straight,
I was not in the fairing. I was with
open legs, open arms. And when
I was braking, I was putting away
both my feet. It was not for a
limit braking or, you know, the leg
[dangle] on the brake."
Briefly...
(Above) Jack
Miller (43) was the
fastest Yamaha
all weekend, but a
crash in the Sprint
and dropping back
to 11th in the
GP blighted his
copybook. (Left)
The blistering
heat was too
much for Fabio Di
Giannantonio in the
Sprint, his Ducati
doing its best to
cook the rider.
