Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1533905
ROUND 3 / MARCH 28-30, 2025 CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS / AUSTIN, TEXAS P88 2020, hubris would be Marquez's undoing. As he eased off and entered race-control mode, he made the mistake of cutting turn four where the curb was still wet. "When I tried to control the race, I forced a little bit less on that; [turns] three-four and then on four, I was too much on the curb. And I lost it super quick." This could be placed alongside 2019 and 2024 when the eight- time champ crashed out of a winning position at this track. From there, Bagnaia was free to claim a crucial win. Behind, By the end of lap one, he was over a second clear of second. And even if Bagnaia, who used his greatly improved feeling when braking to pass Alex Marquez for second at turn 12 on lap four, there was no sign he had anything to challenge the leader. Marc responded to Bagnaia's initial push by posting the fastest laps the fifth, sixth and seventh time around to eke out a lead of 2.2 seconds. Yet there would be no trium - phant ending. Like Argentina 2018, Sepang 2019 or Jerez BAGNAIA PERSISTING WITH GP25 Despite a slow start to the sea- son, Pecco Bagnaia is adamant he sees the potential of Ducati's GP25 machine and will not step back to last year's bike, on which he won 11 races. In Argentina, the triple World champ hinted he could revert to the basis of last year's machine as he struggled to get comfortable. Yet in Austin he stated that it was a miscom- munication on his part. Marc Marquez's speed is evidence of that. "As my English is not that good, wanted to explain that I wanted to get back my feeling of the GP24—not go back to the GP24—because it's clear that the new bike has a better potential. Marc is showing it." HONDA BACK IN THE MIX Thailand and Argentina hinted at it, but Austin was further confir- mation that Honda has reversed its fortunes and put together a much more effective RC213V for 2025. Luca Marini and Joan Mir qualified seventh and eighth, respectively, before Mir crashed out while chasing down the fight for fourth—results that would have been outrageous a year ago. "In the entry phase, the bike has improved a lot, and I can turn much better compared to before, and for this, also the acceleration is a little bit better," said Marini. His teammate also complimented the machine's electronics. "They work pretty well," said Mir. "Es- pecially one thing that I feel very good is the engine brake of this bike—it's better than the Suzuki." And Honda engineers have Briefly... ROAD RACE I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP