MotoGP 2025: Raul Fernandez claims maiden victory in Australia

With the newly crowned world champ sidelined due to injury, the 2025 Australian Grand Prix was wide open, but from Friday morning there was one motorcycle that looked untouchable – the factory Aprilia RS-GP of Marco Bezzecchi.

He needed to be fast too, because with a double long-lap penalty to serve in the full-length grand prix for causing the crash that has ruled Marquez out for the remainder of the season, he had to be on another level from the rest of the field if he was going to secure a podium place in the 27-lapper on Sunday.

And while he did, remarkably, battle back for a third-place finish to become the Aprilia rider now with the most podiums to his name, it was another Aprilia rider who stole the weekend’s headlines when Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez made the most of Bezzecchi’s penalty to claim his first-ever premier-class win.

After scoring his first Sprint podium two weeks ago in Indonesia, the in-form Spaniard qualified fourth behind pole sitter Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha), Bezzecchi and Aussie Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha), who mustered a popular front-row start. And while Bezzecchi’s plan of getting to the front early and trying to make a gap before serving his two penalties within the first seven laps went more or less to plan, neither Quartararo nor Miller got the start they needed and found themselves behind a fast-starting Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) and Fernandez as the two Spaniards chased after the leading Italian.

By lap three, Bezzecchi was more than eight-tenths of a second clear of Acosta and Fernandez, with another three-tenths of a second back to Quartararo. Yet another fastest lap of the race edged him over a second clear, as Fernandez found a way through on the notoriously hard-to-pass Acosta. Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) eased past Miller at the end of Gardner Straight to take fifth at the start of lap five, the same circuit on which Bezzecchi served the first of his two long laps. The Aprilia rider swept into the long-lap loop and rejoined the race in third place behind Acosta and in front of Quartararo.

Jack Miller lost the front heading into Turn 5, losing the chance to join both Moto3 rider Joel Kelso and Moto2 star Senna Agius in home podium celebrations, joining only Johann Zarco in the crashers’ list after the LCR Honda rider went down at Turn 1.

With Fernandez still leading from Acosta, Bezzecchi, Quartararo, Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati), the Aprilia rider stayed on the racing line on the sixth lap in a bid to reduce the effect of the second penalty. But the speed of the two hungry Spaniards in the lead was impressive. The half-second gap Bezzecchi had to Acosta ahead on lap six had stretched out to over six-tenths when he went straight on to serve his second long lap on the seventh time around, rejoining the race in sixth place behind Di Giannantonio and 2.8 seconds behind Fernandez in the lead.

KTM test rider Pol Espargaro, deputising for the injured Maverick Viñales (Tech3 KTM), was an impressive seventh, ahead of Luca Marini (HRC), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) and Indonesian Grand Prix winner Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) rounding out the top 10.

Just as he did to Miller a handful of laps earlier, Marquez eased past Quartararo at the end of the straight to start lap eight, and Di Giannantonio slipped through on the inside of the Frenchman through the Turn 8 Hayshed, relegating him into the clutches of Bezzecchi.

The fastest man on track was the rider in the lead, with Fernandez 1.5 seconds clear of Acosta to start lap 10, who in turn was 1.1 seconds clear of Marquez in third. Di Giannantonio, too, quickly caught Marquez and showed great speed in fourth place after qualifying 10th on the grid. Bezzecchi found a way through on Quartararo on lap 11, but was now more than four seconds behind his fellow Aprilia rider, who was 1.7 seconds clear.

Quartararo’s day got a lot worse the next time around when Marini, Espargaro and Aldeguer all found a way past, while cracks started to appear in Acosta’s campaign in second. He ran wide at Turn 3 on lap 15, which let Marquez through at Miller Corner, but any chance of him chasing down Fernandez – who was now 2.7 seconds up the road – would only come from a drop in the leading man’s tyres, such was his impressive consistency.

Bezzecchi was the fastest rider on circuit on lap 17 as he continued his podium push in fifth place. Di Giannantonio relegated Acosta to fourth on lap 19 and made light work of the three-quarters of a second to Marquez in second, eventually passing the Gresini rider with four laps to go. Fernandez kept his focus and, seemingly, his rear tyre, and had a three-second buffer in the final stages, while Bezzecchi dug deep to catch and pass Marquez for the final podium place on the penultimate lap.

After being handed the lead on lap five of the 27-lap grand prix, the 27-year-old Spaniard showed the speed, focus and consistency needed to become a first-time MotoGP winner, eventually crossing the line 1.4 seconds clear of Di Giannantonio and Bezzecchi. Marquez held on for fourth, ahead of Acosta, Marini and Alex Rins (Monster Yamaha), with the final three KTMs of Binder, Enea Bastianini (Tech3) and Espargaro rounding out the top 10. Pole sitter Quartararo dropped to 11th at the flag.

It was Fernandez’s first podium since Valencia 2021, and it came in his 76th MotoGP start. It makes him the seventh different winner in 2025 and the fifth different victor in the last five races.

World champ Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo) is untouchable at the top of the standings on 545 points, ahead of brother Alex (379). Bezzecchi leapfrogs crasher Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) to take third overall with 282 points to Bagnaia’s 274, while Acosta stays fifth on 233. Jack Miller remains 18th on 66 points.

The series now heads to Malaysia for the penultimate round this weekend.