MotoGP: Marc Marquez beats Quartararo to Barcelona gold as Alex Marquez crashes from lead.
The #73 lets slide a near-certain win, leaving the #93 to hold off Quartararo and Di Giannantonio on Saturday.
Marc Marquez’s (Ducati Lenovo Team) unbeaten run continues, but the #93 was handed a gold medal gift on Saturday afternoon at the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalonia as Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) crashes out of the lead while over a second clear. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) finished the Tissot Sprint just over a second behind Marc Marquez to earn silver, while Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) earned a relatively comfortable P3 after breaking clear of a brilliant KTM battle.
93, 37 & 20 GO TOE-TO-TOE ON OPENING LAP
Alex Marquez got the launch he was searching for as Quartararo, Marc Marquez, and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) went side-by-side into Turn 1. Acosta was on the outside of Marc Marquez as Quartararo swept inside the duo to grab P2 and tag right onto the back of Alex Marquez, leaving the Spaniards in P3 and P4.
An edge-of-your-seat opening lap then unfolded between Quartararo, Marc Marquez and Acosta. Marquez was up the inside of the Frenchman at Turn 10 but Quartararo dug his heels in and kept the inside line into Turn 12, and then Acosta fancied a piece and overtook Marquez too. Then, earning a dose of slipstream from Quartararo’s Yamaha, Marquez got the better of both into Turn 1 and despite having initially lost out, Quartararo bit back again to keep Acosta behind him.
The Sprint then settled down as Marc Marquez and Quartararo hunted down Alex Marquez, who sat 0.5s clear of his brother and 0.9s ahead of Quartararo. Acosta, out of shot, then lost a place to Di Giannantonio and then dropped back into the clutches of teammate Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3). Remember that KTM scrap we mentioned?
At the front, Quartararo couldn’t keep tabs on Marquez duo’s pace and by Lap 6 of 12, El Diablo was 1.3s adrift of the #93. But it looked like Alex Marquez had the championship leader covered as things stood – the gap was up to 1.3s with four laps remaining.
DRAMA: ALEX MARQUEZ CRASHES FROM LEAD
However, later on that lap at the tricky Turn 10, the leader was down. Alex Marquez’s front end washed away, and that was that for the #73’s Tissot Sprint gold medal hopes. An almost certain victory vanished, and thus, the lead was Marc Marquez’s.
Heading onto the final lap, Marquez’s advantage over Quartararo was 1.298s, and he wasn’t going to give that up, was he? No, of course not. Marc Marquez clinched his 14th Sprint win of the year in dramatic fashion as Quartararo returned to the rostrum alongside Di Giannantonio, as a fierce KTM battle unfolded behind.
YOUR SATURDAY POINTS SCORERS
In that scintillating scrap, Acosta just held onto P4 ahead of Bastianini and Binder, as the trio crossed the line just 0.075s apart in the top six. Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) ended the Sprint in P7 and beat fellow HRC star Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) by 0.3s, with rookie Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) earning the final point in P9.
COMING UP: GRAND PRIX SUNDAY
Can Alex Marquez bounce back from late disappointment on Sunday and fight back against Marc Marquez? After a tense Sprint, Sunday should be a belter in Barcelona.
Ducati wrap up 2025 Constructors’ crown
Six Constructors’ Championship titles in a row, anyone? That’s exactly what Ducati ordered at the start of the season, and that’s exactly what’s been delivered after another remarkable, record-breaking campaign.
The Italian marque have officially been crowned 2025 MotoGP Constructors’ Champions on Saturday at the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalonia, with Marc Marquez’s 14th Tissot Sprint win of the year helping secure Ducati their seventh Constructors’ win – the first of which came back in 2007.
In addition, with Marc Marquez looking set to go on and produce arguably sport’s greatest-ever comeback by winning the MotoGP Riders’ Championship in the near future, it means Ducati are going to proudly lift both the Constructors’ and Riders’ titles in the same year for the fourth year running. What an achievement.
Congratulations to everyone at Ducati for their latest success!
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