#ArgentinaGP – MOTOGP, SPRINT & RACE
MOTOGP – SPRINT: Marc Marquez fends off Alex Marquez to clinch Saturday gold in Termas
A second perfect Saturday on the spin comes the way of Marc Marquez as the Ducati Lenovo Team star fends off the threat of Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) to win his second Tissot Sprint of the season, this time at the Gran Premio YPF Energía de Argentina. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) bagged P3 for the third time in 2025 to pocket more important points, but last year’s #1 was 3.8s off the win.
Marc Marquez got another perfect launch from pole and grabbed the holeshot ahead of Alex Marquez, as Bagnaia grabbed an early P3 with Johann Zarco (LCR Honda CASTROL) not getting away well from Row 1 – the Frenchman was P6.
Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was a faller on Lap 1 following contact with Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), as the former’s teammate Pedro Acosta climbed up to P4 ahead of the fast starting Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). Meanwhile, the Marquez brothers were pulling the pin at the front.
On Lap 4 of 12, Alex was 0.2s behind Marc, while Pecco was operating 1.3s away from the scrap. The 2022 and 2023 MotoGP World Champion was 0.5s ahead of Acosta, who in turn had Zarco right up his tailpipes.
At the halfway stage, Alex Marquez wasn’t allowing Marc Marquez to escape. Both were setting 1:37.7s, with Bagnaia also in the 1:37s but a couple of tenths slower per lap at this stage. And on the next lap, Bagnaia was back in the 1:38s. The Italian didn’t have any answers to the Marquez duo, so it was a two-horse race for Tissot Sprint victory in Argentina.
With four laps to go, the gap was 0.371s. Was Alex Marquez now struggling to keep tabs on his older brother? It looked like that was the case. The gap grew to 0.475s with three laps left, and then it was 0.721s with two laps to go. The fight was now seemingly over, but Alex Marquez was still close enough to keep his sibling sweating.
Sweat he did, but the six-time MotoGP World Champion made zero mistakes on the last lap to bring his Ducati GP25 home for a third win of the season, his second in a row on a Saturday. Alex Marquez crossed the line 0.903s shy to claim another podium, with Bagnaia forced to settle for P3 – but it’s more important points on the board for the #63.
After a sluggish launch from the grid, Zarco picked his way back up to P4 to finish just 1.1s behind Bagnaia. That’s a top Saturday outing for the incredibly impressive LCR Honda star, as Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) rounded out the top five. Marco Bezzecchi flew the Aprilia Racing flag in P6, the Italian beat his VR46 Academy stablemate, Morbidelli, by a second. The latter collected P7 in the Sprint, with Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) claiming two Sprint points in P8 after a late move on Acosta as the KTM rider dropped to P9 after a bright opening few laps.
MOTOGP – RACE: Undefeated, Marc Marquez beats Alex Marquez to extend victory streak
A little bit more magic was sprinkled on the early 2025 MotoGP World Championship fight by Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) as the famous #93 battled his way past younger brother Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) in the closing stages of the Gran Premio YPF Energía de Argentina to remain undefeated. Third place went the way of Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), the Italian returning to a Sunday parc ferme for the first time since 2021, as Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) is forced to settle for P4 in Termas de Rio Hondo.
Marc Marquez fended off Alex Marquez to collect the holeshot into Turn 1 as drama unfolded for Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing). The Italian, who suffered contact with Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) after struggling to get his RS-GP stopped into Turn 1, crashed at the opening corner.
At the front, Johann Zarco (LCR Honda CASTROL) was hounding third place Bagnaia, with Turn 8 a popular passing place for the Frenchman. This squabbling between Pecco and Zarco saw the Marquez brothers skip to a 0.7s lead, with Alex shadowing Marc in the opening three laps.
On Lap 4, there was a change for the lead. Alex Marquez capitalised on a small mistake made by Marc Marquez at Turn 1, as blue led red for the first time in Argentina. Meanwhile, Morbidelli had picked his way past Zarco and Bagnaia to climb into P3.
After a busy opening handful of laps, the Grand Prix settled down a tad as the riders settled into their early race rhythms. The blue corner Marquez was leading the red corner Marquez by 0.3s, Morbidelli was 0.7s behind the #93, with Bagnaia a further 0.8s off the back of his fellow Italian. Zarco, meanwhile, was 0.3s behind the #63 Ducati.
On Lap 11, it was as you were at the front. Bagnaia was losing ground though on the top three and Zarco was still swarming all over the rear end of his GP25. A couple of laps later, Morbidelli began to lose touch with Alex Marquez and Marc Marquez, but crucially, the #21 was still over a second clear of Bagnaia and Zarco.
With 10 to go, Marc Marquez had a bit of a moment coming through the fast Turn 11. It was a warning that cost the six-time MotoGP World Champion a couple of tenths, but a lap later, that deficit had been clawed back. And now, the #93 was properly swarming all over the rear Michelin tyre of Alex Marquez.
Lap 18 of 25 – an attempted pass. Marc Marquez lunged at Turn 5 but couldn’t get his bike hooked up and stopped in time, so Alex Marquez kept the lead with seven laps to go. And having run wide, the margin between the leader and chaser was up to 0.4s.
What a showdown this was. On Lap 19, the brothers exchanged fastest laps of the race, with Marc going slightly quicker to latch himself on the back of Alex. Then, another move. Again it was Turn 5 and this time, it was a pass that stuck. Now it was all about whether Alex Marquez had anything in response.
The early signs were no, there wasn’t a response. With four laps to go, Marc Marquez stretched his advantage to 0.7s. At the beginning of Lap 22 of 25, the gap was then just over a second, as Marc Marquez’s teammate Bagnaia was trying to put a late attack together to steal P3 from Morbidelli.
LAST LAP! Marc Marquez held a 1.5s lead over Alex Marquez, with Bagnaia 0.5s behind Morbidelli. Could the 2022 and 2023 MotoGP World Champion find a way to earn a late podium? No he couldn’t. And Alex Marquez couldn’t do anything about Marc Marquez from clinching another victory in 2025 as the #93 made it four wins from four – two Sprints, two Grands Prix – to begin his factory Ducati career in perfect fashion.
Another brilliant effort from Alex Marquez saw the #73 finish second again, as Morbidelli clung on to pocket his first MotoGP podium since the 2021 Spanish GP. Bagnaia was breathing down his neck but the latter walks away from Argentina with an underwhelming P4.
On the final lap, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) pinched P5 away from the incredibly impressive Zarco, as Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) collected a P7 after yesterday’s Lap 1 crash in the Tissot Sprint. Reigning Moto2 World Champion Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) produced a stellar ride to finish P8 from 15th on the grid, but was then disqualified after the race for using a version of software not homologated by the Championship. That moves Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) up into P8 and means three Hondas are classified in the top 10 as each rider behind gains a place – putting Joan Mir in ninth and Honda HRC Castrol teammate Luca Marini in tenth.
That’s the Italian’s best Sunday result in Honda colours, as Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), Quartararo and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) rounded out the points scorers in Termas.
My race finished early unfortunately after Raul Fernandez pushed me out in T9 as he arrived too fast, and I crashed, which was a great shame because I took a strong start, already fighting for 13th after one lap. I got up to rejoin the race, to take the experience and see how my feeling was, even if I was missing the wing on the left side. Our pace was good today despite the strange sensation without one wing. Tyres dropped a lot in the final laps, but I pushed a lot in the middle as I gave everything to come back. In the end, we made the gap, and at least I did not finish last, but it was just an unfortunate race for us.
Enea Bastianini – P17
Click the button below to find out all the images of the #KytCrew during the weekend in Argentina.