Race report

MotoGP San Marino GP: Marc Marquez outduels Marco Bezzecchi for 11th win of 2025

Bezzecchi keeps Marquez honest until the last lap but the latter holds firm to score yet another win

Ducati star Marc Marquez emerged on top in a tense duel with the Aprilia of Marco Bezzecchi to clinch his 11th victory of the 2025 MotoGP season at the San Marino Grand Prix.

Marquez passed Bezzecchi on lap 12 of 26 and then held off the sprint race winner to take the chequered flag by 0.6s.

With Alex Marquez only finishing third, the older Marquez now has a strong chance of wrapping up his seventh premier class title at the next round in Japan on 26-28 September.

At the start of the race, Bezzecchi pulled away cleanly from pole position, while championship leader Marquez once again made a rapid launch to snatch second place from his brother Alex Marquez into Turn 1.

Marc Marquez kept the pressure up on polesitter Bezzecchi for the remainder of the opening lap, but the two soon settled into a rhythm, with Alex Marquez also following them closely behind them in third.

It wasn’t until lap 11 that the battle for victory reignited, as Marc Marquez renewed his attack on the Aprilia rider.

On the following lap, Bezzecchi cracked under pressure and ran wide at Turn 8, allowing Marquez to come through and claim the lead for the first time.

However, the Spaniard was unable to check out at the front after passing Bezzecchi, with the Italian rider keeping him within striking distance.

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

Photo by: Andreas Solaro / AFP via Getty Images

With four laps to run, Marquez appeared to break away from the Italian, pulling out an advantage of 0.6s at the front. However, Bezzecchi immediately responded with the fastest lap of the race, bringing the gap down to 0.3s.

Bezzecchi lowered his own benchmark on the penultimate lap of the race, but Marquez held firm and increased his advantage on the final tour to end another weekend on the top step of the podium.

Alex Marquez couldn’t keep up with the leading duo and dropped more than seven seconds behind them at the finish, but still came away with his ninth podium of the season.

VR46 duo Franco Morbidelli and Fabio di Giannantonio enjoyed a strong showing in front of their home crowd, finishing fourth and fifth respectively after overtaking the factory Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo in the middle of the race.

Quartararo eventually tumbled to eighth place having started on the front row, dropping behind the Gresini Ducati of Fermin Aldeguer and the top Honda of Luca Marini.

Pramac rider Miguel Oliveira equalled his best result of the season in ninth, while Brad Binder brought the sole-surviving KTM to 10th place.

Reigning champion Jorge Martin broke down on the sighting lap and had to dash to the pitlane to jump on his second bike. Although permitted to take his original starting position, a new rule introduced following this year’s British Grand Prix meant he had to serve a double long lap penalty, leaving him 13th at the finish.

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

KTM young gun Pedro Acosta made a stunning charge in the opening laps to rise from ninth on the grid to fourth place, only for a technical issue on lap 8 to send him out of the race. Marshals were later seen retrieving a chain from the track, suggesting his retirement was caused by the same issue that affected his team-mate Binder earlier in the weekend.

Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia retired a lap later Acosta’s exit, losing control of his bike in the middle of Turn 4 while running in eighth place. It marked a premature end to a nightmare weekend for the two-time MotoGP champion, who also failed to score points in Saturday’s sprint.

Both Joan Mir and Johann Zarco went down at Turn 4 on the opening lap in an incident not caught on camera. While HRC rider Mir, who missed Saturday’s action due to neck pain, retired immediately, Zarco remounted on his LCR Honda, finishing the race in 16th and last.

Photos from San Marino GP - Race

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing, Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

MotoGP San Marino GP - Race results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	27	41'20.898		165.5		25
2	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	27	+0.568 41'21.466	0.568	165.5		20
3	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	27	+7.734 41'28.632	7.166	165.0		16
4	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	27	+10.379 41'31.277	2.645	164.8		13
5	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	27	+11.330 41'32.228	0.951	164.8		11
6	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	27	+16.069 41'36.967	4.739	164.5		10
7	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	27	+17.965 41'38.863	1.896	164.3		9
8	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	27	+20.964 41'41.862	2.999	164.1		8
9	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	27	+21.565 41'42.463	0.601	164.1		7
10	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	27	+23.109 41'44.007	1.544	164.0		6
11	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	27	+24.592 41'45.490	1.483	163.9		5
12	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	27	+27.492 41'48.390	2.900	163.7		4
13	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	1	Aprilia	27	+29.937 41'50.835	2.445	163.5		3
14	A. Fernandez Yamaha Factory Racing	7	Yamaha	27	+1'01.504 42'22.402	31.567	161.5		2
15	S. Chantra Team LCR	35	Honda	27	+1'01.932 42'22.830	0.428	161.5		1
16	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	26	+1 Lap 42'47.454	1 Lap	154.0
dnf	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	11	+16 Laps 17'02.824	15 Laps	163.6	Accident
dnf	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	9	+18 Laps 14'07.394	2 Laps	161.5	Accident
dnf	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	8	+19 Laps 12'24.147	1 Lap	163.5	Accident
dnf	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	7	+20 Laps 10'49.762	1 Lap	163.8	Retirement
dnf	M. Viñales Tech 3	12	KTM	4	+23 Laps 6'19.253	3 Laps	160.4	Accident
dnf	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	2	+25 Laps 3'13.564	2 Laps	157.1	Accident
dnf	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	0	+27 Laps 22.017	2 Laps		Accident
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