#HungarianGP – MOTOGP, SPRINT & RACE – Bastianini crashed
MOTOGP – SPRINT: Marquez wins dramatic Balaton Sprint as VR46 earn double podium
For the 13th time in 14 rounds, Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) is a Tissot Sprint winner after avoiding a dose of Turn 1 drama to continue his magnificent victory streak in 2025. Fabio Di Giannantonio took P2, two seconds away from Marquez, and joining the Italian on the Saturday rostrum was Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing teammate Franco Morbidelli.
TURN 1 DRAMA
Marc Marquez got a lovely launch from pole position and led into Turn 1, but Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), from P6 on the grid, got it properly wrong in the braking zone on the inside line. The Frenchman was too late on the anchors and collided with Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), who managed to stay on the bike, but Quartararo didn’t. The incident cost Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) time too, which dropped the Italian to the lower ends of the top 10, while an unlucky Bastianini was P18.
ANOTHER LAP 1 TALKING POINT
Then, there was another incident. This time at Turn 9 and it again involved Bastianini. This time, the ‘Beast’ was at fault as an audacious move on Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) failed, leaving both down and out of the Tissot Sprint on Lap 1.
Post race, both Quartararo and Bastianini were handed penalties for the above points. The #20 has one Long Lap penalty because that’s his first offence, while the #23 has a double Long Lap penalty because it’s a second offence.
MARC LEADS, ACOSTA CRASHES
So where did that leave us? Marc Marquez led from the VR46 duo, with Di Giannantonio the lead rider in the yellow corner. On Lap 5, the Italian was 1.1s away from the #93, with Morbidelli over a second down on his teammate. Fourth was Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), while Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) sat half a second behind the HRC star, and just under a second clear of the second factory HRC rider Joan Mir.
On Lap 6 of 13, Pedro Acosta’s (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) Sprint then ended with a small crash at Turn 11 while he was attempting to pass Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) in a battle for P10. That signalled a disappointing Saturday for Friday’s pacesetter in Hungary.
For the remainder of the Sprint, Marc Marquez remained untroubled to continue his unbeaten run, as Di Giannantonio kept teammate Morbidelli at bay as the VR46 duo collected silver and bronze medals at Balaton Park.
BALATON’S SPRINT POINTS SCORERS
From P9 on the grid, Marini defended and rode brilliantly to keep Aldeguer behind him to earn his best HRC Sprint result in P4, as the latter just about held onto P5 ahead of Mir and the recovering Bezzecchi. Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) was eighth across the line as he gets set to face a three-place grid penalty in tomorrow’s Grand Prix, and the last point on offer on Saturday went to reigning World Champion Martin in P9.
MOTOGP – RACE: Marquez beats Acosta and Bezzecchi to extend unbeaten run
Inevitable. He was made to work for it in the opening half of the Grand Prix, but in the end, Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) strolled to a seventh consecutive victory to continue his majestic 2025 unbeaten run at the Michelin Grand Prix of Hungary. 4.3s was the #93’s winning margin over second place Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), as early Grand Prix leader Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) collected P3 behind the Ducati and KTM stars.
DIGGIA STARTS FROM PITLANE, CONTACT BETWEEN BEZ AND MARC
Before we had lights out, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) was forced to start from pitlane after the Italian suffered a technical issue, meaning P3 on the grid and the Tissot Sprint silver medallist was out of victory contention.
There was drama aplenty on the opening lap too as Marc Marquez and Bezzecchi made contact at Turn 2 after the title race leader ran wide at Turn 1. It was the Italian that led from compatriot Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), with Marquez slotting into P3. Then, Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) slid out at Turn 12 from P4, before Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) crashed on the opening lap too. The #73 remounted but he was P19 and eight seconds away from Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP).
MARC VS BEZ LIGHTS UP BALATON
The Grand Prix then settled. Bezzecchi led Morbidelli by 0.8s at the end of Lap 3, with Marquez 0.2s behind the VR46 Ducati. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) made a good start, the #37 was in P4 and 0.8s away from the rear wheel of Marquez.
Two more riders then crashed in the early stages as both Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) and Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) hit the deck at Turn 5 in separate incidents, as Bezzecchi stretched his legs at the front. But Marquez, at Turn 9, carved his way through on Morbidelli to climb into P2, with the gap at 0.7s at the end of Lap 5.
With open Hungarian asphalt ahead of him, Marquez was able to set consecutive fastest laps of the Grand Prix to reel in Bezzecchi. 1.5s in arrears, Acosta forced his way past Morbidelli to climb into P3 and then Marquez hit the engage battle button at Turn 1 on Lap 8.
That didn’t work though, and neither did a similar attempt at Turn 5. Marquez was eager to get ahead of the Italian here but there was no way through for now. On Lap 11, Marquez pounced again at Turn 1 and this time around, it was a pass that stuck. Now then Marco, what was your response? At this stage, not a lot because Marquez set a 1:38.343, Bezzecchi was in the 1:39s, and the lead grew to 1.1s.
MARC’S LEAD GROWS AS ACOSTA POUNCES
That soon became 1.4s and the more pressing matter for Bezzecchi was Acosta. Meanwhile, Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) crashed at Turn 1 while he was putting Morbidelli under pressure in P5, which promoted Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) into fifth.
A change for P2 arrived on Lap 16, and it was a move that started three corners earlier when Bezzecchi ran slightly wide at Turn 15. That cost him the drive all the way up the start/finish straight and Acosta, strong on the anchors, picked up the P2 baton. The gap to Marquez? 2.7s.
And that’s a gap that wouldn’t shrink with Marquez controlling the situation at the front. A 1:37.843, compared to Acosta’s 1:38.258, was the knockout blow and with Acosta 2.2s clear of Bezzecchi, it looked like the podium scraps were done with. However, Martin wasn’t done. The #1 demoted Morbidelli to P5 and now, the 2024 King of MotoGP sat 2.6s behind his teammate Bezzecchi.
In the end, Marquez was simply untouchable at Balaton. The 22nd different track the #93 has claimed victory at, and one that sees his dominant march towards a seventh MotoGP title continue. Seven consecutive double wins, a 175-point lead and another pretty much perfect weekend. Fair play.
Acosta will rue a tricky qualifying but P2 is his second podium in the last three races, and Bezzecchi’s classy run of form continues – that’s four podiums in the last five Grands Prix, and the Italian is hunting Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) for P3 in the standings.
YOUR POINTS SCORERS IN HUNGARY
Chapeau to Martin in P4. That’s the reigning Champion’s best Aprilia result and he did it from P16 on the grid too. What a boost that is for Martin and his side of the box, and the same can be said for Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) as the Italian gets the better of Morbidelli – who had to drop one position for cutting the chicane at Turn 9 – in the closing stages to hand himself and HRC a double top five at Balaton.
Morbidelli was P6, with Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Tech3) handing KTM a triple top seven. The latter enjoyed a good fight with Bagnaia and following a mistake on the last lap, the #63 lost a position to the #44 to collect P9 in Hungary.
Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) rounded out the top 10 after the Frenchman had to take a Long Lap penalty for his Tissot Sprint mistake. 11th went to Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team), 12th was Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), while Rins, Alex Marquez and Di Giannantonio completed the points on a Sunday to forget for the latter duo.
After two crashes in both the sprint and today, it is easy to feel so unlucky. After yesterday, I had some pain and I did not feel at my 100% physically today, and unfortunately we crashed in the opening lap, and I did everything I could to escape. At the end of the day, we have to understand that we have been lucky today, because I found myself in the middle of the track with riders coming behind, and I did not get touched by anyone, so for sure, the day could have turned wrong, and we have to appreciate that. Anyway, the weekend was positive for us, even if we leave with zero points, I am feeling more and more confident on the bike, so I am looking forward to Barcelona, and hopefully we can have a great weekend.
Enea Bastianini – NC
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