Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez has had a dominant start to the 2025 MotoGP season with Ducati. The Spaniard has won all but one race thus far as he leads the championship by 16 points.
Marquez has looked on another level in the red colours of the factory Ducati team. He has taken pole position at all four races thus far.
The 32-year-old went mostly unchallenged in Buriram and Termas de Rio Hondo, claiming the Sprint and race win in both events. He looked set to do the same in Austin, but Marquez crashed from the lead in Sunday’s race, handing the win to Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia.
At the Qatar Grand Prix, Bagnaia was expected to get back to form at a circuit that is suited to him. However, after the Italian crashed during Q2, Marquez gained the advantage.
The six-time MotoGP champion achieved another clean sweep in Qatar as he extended his lead in the standings to 16 points over brother Alex. But the Grand Prix proved Marquez can be challenged in 2025 and from an unlikely source.
Herve Poncharal warns Marc Marquez Tech3 will try to replicate Qatar result after strong performance
Tech3 came seemingly out of nowhere in Qatar as Maverick Vinales produced a sensational ride to finish second. However, he was hit with a 16-second penalty after the race for a tyre pressure infringement.
The Spaniard fought through the field to lead the race at one stage. Vinales felt ‘at home’ on his KTM machine as he looked competitive next to Marquez and the Ducatis.
It was the first time in 2025 that the 32-year-old had been properly challenged and that he is ‘almost unbeatable’, as Tech3 boss Herve Poncharal puts it. Speaking with Crash.net, he is looking to repeat their Qatar performance.
“Marc is a very clever person. He learned from that,” Poncharal said. “Many people thought Qatar would be tough for him because it’s not one of his favourite tracks, but we saw what happened. At the moment, he looks almost unbeatable. Almost!
“Believe me, with Enea and Maverick, we will do everything we can to try and repeat what we did in Qatar. Maverick showed it’s possible to challenge Marc. So let’s make it happen again.”
READ MORE: Everything to know about KTM Tech3 including the MotoGP team’s riders
Qatar was an encouraging step for Tech3 after a miserable start to 2025
The Qatar GP was the first time Tech3 looked competitive in 2025, albeit Enea Bastianini still struggled down in 11th. Vinales’ performance will give the team a huge confidence boost, even if he was demoted to 14th after the race.
It has been a difficult start to life at KTM for Vinales and Bastianini. The pair have only scored 29 points between them as they have struggled to transition from Aprilia and Ducati respectively.
Qatar was a hugely unexpected result, with the RC16’s chatter issue suddenly improving for Vinales and Pedro Acosta. KTM do not know why the problem seemingly fixed itself, giving the team work to do at the factory.
However, it is an encouraging step forward for the manufacturer as they battled with the Ducatis. Davide Tardozzi hailed Vinales for his Qatar performance – he will want to push on heading into the European season.
Receive racing news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
