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Autosport

MotoGP Aragon GP: Marc Marquez dominates main race with textbook performance

Marc Marquez MotoGP Alex Marquez Aragon (Geopolitical Entity) Pedro Acosta Francesco Bagnaia Franco Morbidelli Ducati

Marc Marquez delivered a textbook race at the Motorland circuit in Aragon to secure another 25 points towards the MotoGP drivers' championship, as he took the win ahead of brother Alex Marquez.

After a strong start, in contrast to his sprint race mishap, Marc paced himself in the early stages. Younger sibling Alex tried to keep the pressure on the six-time MotoGP champion, but by mid-distance, the gap had grown to over 1.5s.

Marc was showing no signs of taking it easy though. The Spaniard set fastest lap after fastest lap before taking the chequered flag in front of the 50,000-strong crowd.

Alex didn't have a response and focused instead on hanging on to the second spot, which at one point looked heavily under threat from Francesco Bagnaia, but the younger Marquez rider managed to hold on to the flag.

Bagnaia took the final place on the podium, enjoying a much stronger Grand Prix than he’d had for a while. The two-time MotoGP champion tried to pile the pressure on Alex but couldn't find a way past and decided to play it safe.

The KTMs looked fierce in the early stages, with Pedro Acosta – the only rider to choose the hard tyre for the front of his bike – pressuring Bagnaia throughout the early laps. While the bike looked strong under brakes, the missile-like performance of Bagnaia's Ducati down the straights kept the red bike ahead, but that didn't stop Acosta from trying.

Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing, leads Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team, and Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images)

The first attempt for third came on lap two into Turn 1, but Bagnaia managed to snatch the position back before Acosta slipped through once again under braking into turn 12. The Italian regained the place down the back straight with the superior speed of the Ducati leaving Acosta defenceless. Lap four again saw the duo swap positions, but the Ducati rider grabbed third back again, much to Acosta's frustration. Eventually, Bagnaia pulled out a bit of breathing space, so Acosta had to settle for fourth.

Unfortunately for KTM, its result was slightly spoiled as Brad Binder went down on lap 12 through Turn 13, losing fifth position after Binder was keeping firmly in touch with the battle for third.

Instead, fifth fell to Franco Morbidelli, whose poor start dropped him out of contention and who stayed in fifth place for the majority of the race, his lack of pace evident.

However, Fermin Aldeguer caught the VR46 rider toward the end of the race and engaged in an almighty duel for the position. The pair swapped positions on multiple occasions as they sought to settle the debate over fifth, even resulting in strong contact on the back straight. Morbidelli held on though, so Aldeguer brought the Gresini Ducati home in sixth.

Honda had reason to smile, as did Joan Mir who secured his best finish since the 2023 Indian Grand Prix as he salvaged seventh place on his HRC Honda. The LCR Honda team didn't share the same joy, as Johann Zarco went down on lap nine.

Marco Bezzecchi recovered to finish eighth after he turned up to pace in the closing stages, having started from the back of the grid. Meanwhile, Fabio Di Giannantonio brought the other VR46 bike home ninth. Raul Fernandez rounded out the top 10 on the Trackhouse Aprilia.

Fabio Quartararo concluded his weekend from hell by going down at Turn 1. The Frenchman actually looked set for a decent helping of points, but his crash finally brought Yamaha's horror Aragon Grand Prix to a close. Tech3's Maverick Vinales looked set for eighth place until he too dramatically slid out of the race at Turn 12.

Aragon GP results

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	23	-				25
2	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	23	+1.107 1.107	1.107			20
3	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	23	+2.029 2.029	0.922			16
4	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	23	+7.657 7.657	5.628			13
5	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	23	+10.363 10.363	2.706			11
6	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	23	+11.889 11.889	1.526			10
7	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	23	+14.938 14.938	3.049			9
8	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	23	+16.022 16.022	1.084			8
9	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	23	+18.321 18.321	2.299			7
10	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	23	+19.190 19.190	0.869			6
11	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	23	+19.646 19.646	0.456			5
12	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	23	+24.624 24.624	4.978			4
13	A. Fernandez Yamaha Factory Racing	7	Yamaha	23	+25.986 25.986	1.362			3
14	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	23	+26.761 26.761	0.775			2
15	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	23	+27.122 27.122	0.361			1
16	S. Chantra Team LCR	35	Honda	23	+37.117 37.117	9.995
17	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	23	+43.588 43.588	6.471
18	M. Viñales Tech 3	12	KTM	23	+1'26.319 86.319	42.731
dnf	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	12	11 laps			Accident
dnf	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	11	12 laps			Accident
dnf	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	8	15 laps			Accident
View full results