Quite the contrast to Aldegu-
er. Ninth on lap one, the rookie
cleared Fabio
Di Giannanto-
nio (VR46 Ducati) on lap nine
and
Enea Bastianini on lap 11
before repeatedly setting the
fastest times of anyone in the
closing laps—a nod to what
awaited on Sunday.
MotoGP
A quick glance at the results
and the latest offering from the
Red Bull Ring could read like
more of the same. Marc Mar
-
quez claimed another double
victory,
his ninth of the year and
sixth in a row. And all achieved
by tactics deployed in five of the
past six outings: sit behind his
main opponent before launching
a devastating late attack.
With Alex Marquez only
capable of 10th, a ninth World
title is now a mere formality for
older brother Marc. Any sense
of jeopardy now revolves around
how early he can wrap it all up,
with the Japanese Grand Prix—
six races from the end—now the
likely place he'll do it.
But look a little closer, and
there was plenty here to sug
-
gest there could be tougher
tests on
the horizon for the
runaway championship leader.
For a start, Aprilia's Bezzecchi
showed that the recent gains
with aerodynamics have turned
the RS-GP into a seriously con
-
sistent challenger. Around at its
bogey track
in recent years, he
VOLUME 62 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 19, 2025 P81
gave Marc serious trouble for 20
of the race's 28 laps.
Then there was the eventual
runner-up. This time two years
ago, Ducati's wisdom of sign-
ing Aldeguer for this season
even
before the 2024 campaign
got underway was repeatedly
coming under question. Here at
Spielberg, the 20-year-old rookie
showed searing late-race speed
almost every session. We have to
be happy with this. After the last few
races, it was tough. And the last time,
I felt like this was in Aragon, because
we have had many moments of
misfortune since then. It was a funny
race with a good battle at the end;
I just tried to remain consistent and
catch Bagnaia and Binder steadily."
25 RAUL FERNANDEZ
DNF/9TH MOTOGP
"I still have to learn some things,"
Fernandez said. "At the beginning of
the season, we were barely fighting
for points, and right now we are fight-
ing for a top five, top six. So, I need
to learn how to manage the tires and
everything. It's not the best track for us,
but I believe we saved it quite well and
made a good job—just in the last part of
the race, I had some problems to man-
age the tires well. Also, I'm still in the
process to understand the new aero
package and how to manage the tires
in this kind of position. I'm happy but
also sure we can improve in the future."
MYOWNRACE
Marc Marquez (93) and Marco
Bezzecchi (72) drag race out of
turn three. Bez had a couple of
counterattacks, but once in front,
Marquez was gone.
