by Joe Tatulli
2025 MotoGP Update
The latest from MotoGP land has us looking at the first weekend this year in Europe, and a special name for the big weekend in Spain at the Jerez circuit. I call it “Little Brother’s Big Day”. Alex Marquez, little brother of Marc Marquez, the eight time world champion, had never won a MotoGP Sunday Grand Prix race, until he did.
Big brother Marc, second on the grid, won the Sprint on Saturday, but crashed on Sunday opening the door for several riders to take the checkered flag. Alex, started from the fourth position on row two, but went on the beat Fabio Quartararo, who started from pole, and who took second on Sunday. Pecco Bagnaia took third in both races from P3 on row one.
The celebration after the race was epic for the 28-year-old Marquez, and also for Quartararo who was on pole, and who finished on the podium for the first time in several years for Yamaha.
After the Spanish Grand Prix Alex is in first place in the world championship with 140pts. Marc is second with 139, and Pecco is third with 120.
Next we go to the Michelin Grand Prix of France at the Le Mans circuit, happening right now as you read this month’s RUMBLE.
As I was watching the Friday Free Practice I thought it might be interesting to share how fast things can change in MotoGP. If you look at the four images below you will notice the time stamps at the top of the left column, the one with the racer’s names. The first is at 12:46. This is the time left in the FP session. At this point Marc Marquez is at the top in Position 1 with a lap time of 01:30:530. If this time remained the fastest through out all qualifying then Marc would be on pole. That will not happen. You’ll also notice the positions of other top riders as you go down the list. The second image (at 10:39 remaining in the session) shows Marc still in #1, but other riders have improved and moved up the list. Bagnaia, for instance, has improved his best time and moved from #6 to #3. This will continue through Qualifying 2 on Saturday when the final positions on the grid for the Saturday afternoon Sprint and Sunday full MotoGP Grand Prix on Sunday. The third image (at 9:50 remaining) shows that Fabio Quartararo has moved into the #1 spot turning in a fastest lap time of 01:30:222, and if you look at the rest of the list you will notice other riders have also improved and pushed other riders down to lower spots on the list. Then in the final image (at 9:19 remaining) Marquez takes back the #1 spot with a new world record, fastest ever lap at LeMans for any rider ever with a 01:29:855. Tomorrow are the final qualifying sessions and we’ll see if anyone can knock Marc Marquez off the pole with another world record lap.
See you next month with more MotoGP updates.
