It wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration to say that Marc Marquez and Ducati absolutely dominated the opening weekend of the 2025 MotoGP season in Thailand. While this hasn’t really come as a surprise given his strong timings in the pre-season tests and his previous track record, the real surprise of the weekend was rookie Ai Ogura’s debut aboard the Trackhouse Aprilia.
- Marc Marquez opens 2025 with a double victory in Thailand
- Ogura finishes inside top five in both races
- Bagnaia finished third in both races
Will 2025 be a repeat of 2019 for Marquez?
When Marquez won his eighth world title back in 2019, his season was littered with wins and no one was able to come close to the Spaniard that year. From what has transpired on track in the opening round, it seems like this year could shape up to be a repeat of 2019. While his victory in the Sprint race seemed like a walk in the park, the main race wasn’t as straightforward.
Just as he did in the Sprint, Marc led the race from pole position and for the first seven laps he established a dominant lead of over one and a half seconds over the next rider, his younger brother Alex. Then, in a seemingly inexplicable turn of events, Marc sat up, relinquished the lead to Alex and was content sitting in second position until lap 23. After the race, Marc clarified that his front tyre pressure was too low, and despite loading the front during braking, he wasn’t able to achieve the spike he desired.
On lap 23, Marc overtook Alex to take the lead and stayed there to take his first victory of 2025. The podium was exactly the same as the sprint, with Bagnaia finishing third in Sunday’s race as well.
Ai Ogura’s stellar MotoGP debut
When MotoGP rookie Ai Ogura entered Q2 on Saturday, he explained that it was above his expectations, which meant he must have been overjoyed with his performance for the rest of the weekend. For pretty much the entire Sprint race, Ogura stayed on the tail of Francesco Bagnaia and finished the 13-lap race in fourth place. In the main race too, Ogura was behind Bagnaia in the first half, but was then overtaken by a hard-charging Franco Morbidelli. But beyond Morbidelli, no one else was able to overtake the 2025 rookie, who finally finished the race in fifth place.
This achievement is even more sensational when you factor in that Ai Ogura, aboard the satellite Trackhouse Aprilia machine, was the leading man for the Noale-based company in the opening salvo of 2025.
Yamaha, Honda make strides
Last year was dismal for both Japanese companies in MotoGP, however, from what we have witnessed in the opening round, it doesn’t seem like history will repeat itself.
Joan Mir finished the Sprint race in ninth position, taking the final point-scoring place. Even in the main race, he was running in seventh position before he was forced to retire due to a crash. Stalwart of the MotoGP grid and leading light for Honda last year, Frenchman Johann Zarco, did finish in the top 10 aboard his LCR Honda, again showcasing that he is the reference point for Big Red’s racing division.
Yamaha, too, showed marked improvement over last year and here too, it was the satellite team that was leading the charge. With Jack Miller starting from fourth position aboard the Pramac Yamaha YZR-M1, the Australian was battling with the faster Ducatis and Aprilias inside the top 10 for much of the race, before ultimately crossing the chequered flag in 11th place.
KTM’s subdued MotoGP start
The turbulent winter that KTM has had with its financial problems is no secret, and the company seems to be carrying forward that bad luck onto the racetrack. Factory KTM rider Pedro Acosta, who was in the mix with the leading Ducatis last year as a rookie, failed to score any points at Thailand. His teammate, Brad Binder, came a respectable eighth, ahead of Tech3 rider Enea Bastianini in ninth, but both of them finished behind rookie Ai Ogura and Zarco aboard the LCR Honda, showcasing that the Orange squad still needs to catch up to the rest of the field on track.
2025 MotoGP standings
With the season opener concluded, MotoGP will now make its way to the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit in Argentina on March 14-16 in two weeks time. Marc Marquez leads the standings ahead of his brother Alex and his teammate Francesco Bagnaia.
2025 Thailand MotoGP results
Unnatee Gidithuri
