Boris on the Catalan GP – The Evisceration Continues

MotoGP 2025

Round 15 – Catalunya Race Report

The Marquez brothers are like the Borg in Star Trek. Resistance is useless. And futile. And pointless.

Sure, now and again, the younger Alfoil-touched brother, Alex, goes off script and into the gravel or another rider, but then he is brought back into the Borg Cube 461, plugged into some unknown Marquez family re-programming mechanism, and re-booted.

This is pretty much what I saw in Catalunya. Fearlessly fast in Practice and Qualifying, Alex Marquez went hammering off pole and into the lead of the Sprint Race. His brother seemed disinterested in chasing him with any intent. He diced instead with Pedro Acosta and Fabulous – both of whom rode their hearts out over the weekend – but that did not last long. Marc rode off, with Alex riding off even further out the front.

Then Alex crashed out, and Marc won. Alex seemed to weep over his unforced error. Or maybe because he knew what would happen to him in Cube 461 that evening. Come Sunday, there was to be no repeat of that crash.

The stewards had been generous with their penalties in all the classes, and on the premier grid, Mir had a three-place grid penalty, while Aldeguer and Morbidelli were both looking at Long Lap Penalties.

Marc set the pace early on after a blistering start, with Alex hot on his back wheel. Acosta, the only rider who’d opted for a soft rear tyre, was chasing them both. Would this be the day when someone would actually mount a challenge?

Of course not. It was like a scripted thing. Shortly after Alex passed Marc, somehow out-braking him into Turn One at the start of Lap Four, he was uncatchable. Certainly, Marc did not look to be making any kind of effort at all. Was he gifting his normally slower sibling a win? Was he trying to inject some vague interest in the championship? Was he forestalling his crowning as World Champion in Misano, knowing he’d be savagely booed by the crazed Rossi-loving Italians?

Anyone who has watched Marc this season knows full well he can seemingly pass anyone he wants to at will. I find it hard to accept that here, in Catalunya, his home track, the Borg Motherland, as it were, he could not get around Alex.

Behind them, Pedro’s tyre choice backfired. He fell quickly off the pace, and the Beast took his third spot off him. Hopes were that the Beast, who normally gets quicker as the race wears on, would start to close the gap to Marc. And of course, he tried. Marc just went faster, closing on Alex as if to urge him not to lose focus. Which he did on Saturday. This time, the overnight re-programming helped. Alex went a bit quicker, and the Beast’s efforts came to naught.

Honda certainly seems to have found some pace in recent times, and both Marini and Zarco went at it for a bit, to see who would torment Fabulous for fifth spot. Zarco eventually won that and went after Fabulous, only to wipe himself out.

Sadly, Brad Binder could not repeat his good showing on Saturday when he contended mightily with the Beast and Pedro for KTM dominance, under the approving glance of the new Tech 3 owner, Gunther Steiner of Formula One and Drive To Survive fame. Brad crashed out on Turn Seven.

Five other riders got to taste the Catalunya rocks – Savadori, Bez, Digi, Rins, and Morbidelli, who trowelled it before he could get his Long Lap Penalty done.

Aleix ‘The Captain’ Espargaro, wildcarding after doing his back in on a pushbike and missing out on wildcarding in Hungary, came last, some 43 seconds shy of the winner. Even a busted Maverick Vinales, nursing a bad shoulder, flogged him.

Jack was also at the back of the field, safe in the knowledge that he had a ride with Pramac next year, which was widely anticipated but officially confirmed just before this weekend.

Pecco? Well, his weekend was utter garbage on Saturday, and got a little better on Sunday…well, at least until the rookie Ogura passed him for sixth place. There seems to be no end to his suffering.

The reigning world champion, Jorge Martin, again finished tenth. I’m thinking he will certainly come to terms with the Aprilia by the end of the season, and he sees no point in pushing any harder than he is now.

And off we go to Misano this weekend. For more of the same, no doubt.

Catalunya MotoGP Results

Catalunya MotoGP Race Top Speeds

The average is from the best five speeds

MotoGP Championship Standings

Constructor Championship

2025 MotoGP Calendar

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