Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez has made attentions turn to 2026 already, having won the 2025 riders’ title with five rounds to go amid his dominant first year with the factory Ducati team.
The 32-year-old wrapped up his seventh premier class championship last time out at Motegi with P2 in the Sprint and P2 in the Japanese Grand Prix. His double-podium weekend meant Marc Marquez left Motegi leading his brother, Alex Marquez, by 201 points in the standings.
It is not the earliest that a MotoGP title has ever been won, with Valentino Rossi continuing to hold that record after securing his title in 2002 after 12/16 rounds (75%). Marquez won the 2025 title after 17 of the 22 rounds (77.2%) scheduled on the MotoGP calendar this season.
Marquez has been truly dominant nonetheless this year to win his first title aboard a Ducati after sealing each of his previous six titles for Honda. The Spaniard has scored 11 Grand Prix wins and 15 podiums, 14 Sprint Race wins and 16 podiums, and eight pole positions to date.
Jorge Lorenzo tips Pedro Acosta as the most likely future title rival for Marc Marquez
Naturally, given the dominant manner in which Marquez won the 2025 MotoGP title in his first year with the factory Ducati squad, the Cervera native will be the favourite to also win next year’s title. He might not even face a real rival until MotoGP’s 2027 regulations arrive.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Pedro Acosta from net worth to girlfriend
Jorge Lorenzo does not think the rider most likely to fight Marquez over a title in the coming years is in the Ducati fold, either, with the two-time champion tipping KTM ace Pedro Acosta as the man to possibly look out for. Acosta is yet to win a MotoGP race but has big potential.
“I’d say Pedro Acosta, if I’m judging his age and talent,” Lorenzo has told Corriere della Sera.
Lorenzo believes Acosta can become a complete rider as he admires his fellow Spaniard’s hunger to win, but feels his exuberance on the circuit can sometimes backfire. He even feels Acosta would “be scary” if he were ever to leave KTM and hop aboard a Ducati in the future.
Mazarron native Acosta is only in his second season in MotoGP this term, and also holds the 2021 Moto3 plus 2023 Moto2 titles under his belt. The 21-year-old has already got on seven premier class podiums from 36 Grand Prix starts, as well, including earning three P2 finishes.
Max Biaggi believes Marc Marquez ‘deserves everything he’s achieving’ after winning the 2025 MotoGP title
Acosta is sixth in the 2025 MotoGP standings as the best KTM rider with a 346-point deficit to Marc Marquez. He also trails Gresini rider Alex Marquez by 145 points, Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia by 79, Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi by 47 and VR46’s Franco Morbidelli by one so far.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Marc Marquez from net worth to girlfriend
Bagnaia won the Motegi Sprint and Japanese GP to potentially offer the Italian hope that he can challenge Marc Marquez for the title next season. The 28-year-old has not been a match for his teammate this term, and Lorenzo favours Acosta as a potential future title contender.
Marquez has truly been in a class of his own with the Ducati GP25, and Max Biaggi believes the now nine-time world champion “deserves everything” he has achieved this year. Biaggi points to how Marquez nearly retired due to his arm injury sustained at Jerez back in 2020.
Biaggi told Motosprint: “After achieving certain results with a certain bike, you might have imagined that with a more advanced machine he could do great things.
“It’s a dominance that can tire those who watch. But as a rider who has had his moments of difficulty, I say that Marc deserves all this given how he was able to climb back up after the bad times. It’s right that he gets what he’s achieving, at least this year.
“He almost lost an arm and said goodbye to racing. So, as a sportsman, I say that Marc deserves everything he’s achieving.”
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