Marquez’s spill hands Pecco the spoils

For the third time since 2019 at his beloved Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, Marc Marquez (Lenovo Ducati) crashed out of a commanding 2.5-second lead, handing his factory Ducati teammate Pecco Bagnaia his first win of the 2025 MotoGP World Championship season.

But the drama started earlier that day, when the eight-time world champ sprinted off the grid minutes before the warm-up lap was due to get underway, in order to switch from wets to slicks. This in turn triggered a last-minute mass exodus of riders intent on following Marquez’s lead.

The resulting melee caused much confusion and a red flag as the unprecedented scene unfolded, but as the quick-start procedure got underway and no penalties were applied, the teams and riders who had initially gambled on slicks were left fuming.

You could argue the rider who caused the drama ended up paying the ultimate price when, on lap nine, pole-sitter and Sprint winner Marc Marquez clipped the still-wet apex and crashed out of the race, taking with him an almost certain 25 race-day points.

“We are happy for one part of the box, we are not particularly happy for the other one, but this is our life,” chuckled Ducati Corse General Manager Gigi Dall’Inga after the shortened 19-lap feature.

It was Marc who had nabbed the initial holeshot and, just as it had been in previous rounds so far this year, it was the consistent Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) in hot pursuit. From sixth on the grid, Bagnaia got a great start and was up to third, ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati), Aussie Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha), Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) and the Red Bull KTM pairing of Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder.

Pecco’s move on the younger Marquez for second place came on lap four, his determination clear as he posted a lap that was three-tenths quicker than the leading Marquez. But Marc’s determination to become the first rider in history to score eight victories at any one circuit was also clear, as he posted fastest lap after fastest lap to stamp his authority on the race and, seemingly, the championship.

As the top four began to gap the pack, the battle for fifth headed by Morbidelli began to heat up. With Miller the first non-Ducati in sixth place, Binder was left hustling his former teammate after Acosta crashed on lap eight, as rookie Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) and veteran Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) muscled their way into the fight.

And then things got really interesting as everyone – from Pecco in second to Aldeguer in 10th – sought to capitalise on Marc’s mistake, as he remounted his Ducati in 18th position and battled for a handful of laps with the back-markers without a right-side footpeg, before eventually conceding the loss and retiring from the race.

Now with a 2.3-second lead over Alex Marquez, the race was Pecco’s to lose. However, after having to play second fiddle to his new teammate so far in 2025, he wasn’t giving it up, the Italian maintaining perfect concentration to the chequered flag, which he crossed over two seconds clear of the Gresini rider.

Binder eventually relegated Miller to seventh, but it was all for nothing when his RC16 expired on lap 13. Meanwhile Aldeguer found some stunning pace late in the race which not only saw him triumph in the fierce battle for sixth with Zarco, but also catch and pass Miller for fifth.

The master of late-race pace, Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM), forced his way through on a handful of riders to find his way up to eighth, and it got even better for the Italian when Aldeguer’s charge ended in the gravel trap with just two laps to go.

Alex Marquez responded to Di Giannantonio’s late lunge to ensure his sixth second-place finish in as many attempts this year remained, with the Italian a safe third some seven seconds clear of teammate Morbidelli in fourth.

For the third grand prix in a row, Aussie Jack Miller was the top Yamaha in fifth place, ahead of Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), Bastianini and Luca Marini (HRC). Rookie Ai Ogura (Trackhouse) fought through from 18th on the grid to ninth – just as he did the day before in the Sprint – with Monster Yamaha’s Fabio Quartataro, who crashed on the first sighting lap, rounding out the top 10.

With six second-place finishes in 2025 and with brother Marc out of contention in Texas, Alex Marquez now leads the MotoGP standings for the very first time in his career. With 87 points to Marc’s 86, Pecco (75pts) remains in third place just 12 points adrift. Morbidelli (55pts) is in fourth ahead of Di Giannantonio (44pts), with the first non-Ducati of rookie Ogura (25pts) in an impressive sixth place.

The series now heads to Qatar for Round 4 over April 11 to 13, where reigning world champion Jorge Martin is expected to be riding his factory Aprilia for the first time since being sidelined by two pre-season crashes.