Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez has won the 2025 MotoGP title and, in doing so, has broken Valentino Rossi’s record as the oldest champion, but he is still five years shy of the real record.
History was made in the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi this Sunday, as Ducati rider Marquez won his seventh premier class title to date with five rounds of the 2025 MotoGP season still to play. It is also the first MotoGP title that Marquez has won with a team other than Honda.
Marquez has dominated the premier class field since joining Ducati from Gresini in 2025 and only had to outscore his brother, Alex Marquez of Gresini, by three points across the Motegi weekend. Marc’s 2025 title also marks his ninth world championship across all three classes.
The Cervera native won the 125cc title in 2010 and the 2012 Moto2 title, before winning the first of his seven MotoGP titles in 2013 as a rookie for Honda. Clinching his seventh MotoGP title even draws Marquez level with Rossi, while breaking his record as the oldest champion.
Marc Marquez breaks Valentino Rossi’s record as the oldest MotoGP champion
Up until Marquez won the 2025 championship for Ducati, Rossi held the record for being the oldest rider to win a title in the MotoGP era since 2002. The Italian won the last of his seven MotoGP titles riding for Yamaha during the 2009 season aged 30 years and 251 days old.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Marc Marquez from net worth to girlfriend
But Marquez now trumps his arch nemesis, having won the 2025 MotoGP title for Ducati at the age of 32 years and 223 days. Marquez even controls the record for being the youngest MotoGP champion, having won his first title for Honda in 2013 aged 20 years and 266 days.
Yet while Marquez has won the 2025 MotoGP title at the Japanese GP, he would have to win the 2031 championship to break the record as the oldest premier class champion of all time. Marquez would still be 23 days short if he were to win the 2030 title on December 31, 2030.
Leslie Graham still remains the oldest premier class riders’ champion of all time
Leslie Graham set a record that remains unbeaten as the oldest premier class champion of all time in the maiden 500cc world championship in 1949, despite Marquez breaking Rossi’s MotoGP record in 2025. Graham was 37 years and 340 days old when he won the 1949 title.
Graham was one of the pioneers of two-wheel motorsport in the pre- and post-World War II years. The Englishman also served as an RAF Flight Lieutenant in the Second World War, flying Lancasters over Germany and German-occupied France, before he returned to racing.
His motorsport career started in 1928 on a Dot JAP, before switching to OK Supreme before WWII broke out. Graham seldom had much luck in his early years, but AJS picked him up as racing resumed and stuck by the Englishman as the FIM launched the world championship.
While Harold Daniell won the inaugural 500cc world championship race at the 1949 Isle of Man TT, Graham was victorious in race two at the Swiss Grand Prix. He also added another win at the Ulster Grand Prix to go to Monza for the season finale in contention for the title.
And, despite Carlo Bandirola taking Graham out of the Nations Grand Prix at Monza, the AJS rider still secured the 1949 500cc title and set a record that remains unbeaten as the oldest premier class champion of all time. But he won the title due to the FIM’s rules at the time.
Gilera rival Nello Pagani scored nine more points than AJS rider Graham in the 1949 500cc world championship. But the FIM only counted each rider’s three best results from the six races for the championship, so Graham sealed the title with 30 points over Pagani with 29.
A disappointing title defence followed in 1950, so Graham accepted an offer from Count Domenico Agusta to join MV Agusta. The team were not the dominant force they became with Giacomo Agostini, but Graham’s technical knowledge improved MV’s results hugely.
Graham would not reap the rewards of his work as the Liverpudlian died at the Isle of Man TT in 1953. Engineer Arturo Magni, who worked with Agostini, John Surtees and Phil Read at MV Agusta, considered the “very technical” Graham to be “the greatest of all MV’s riders”.
Receive racing news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
