Recapping the Sunday MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 contests from Argentina

MotoGP 2025

Round Two – Argentina – Termas de Rio Hondo – Sunday

Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) lit up his comeback run again in Termas de Rio Hondo as he once again battled his way past younger brother Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) in the closing stages of the Gran Premio YPF Energía de Argentina to remain undefeated so far in season 2025.

Third place went the way of Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), the Italian returning to a Sunday parc ferme for the first time since 2021, as Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) is forced to settle for P4 in Termas de Rio Hondo.

MotoGP Race Report

Marc Marquez fended off Alex Marquez to collect the holeshot into Turn 1 as drama unfolded for Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing). The Italian, who made contact with Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) after struggling to get his RS-GP stopped into Turn 1, crashed at the opening corner.

At the front, Johann Zarco (LCR Honda CASTROL) was hounding third place Bagnaia, with Turn 8 a popular passing place for the Frenchman. This squabbling between Pecco and Zarco saw the Marquez brothers skip to a 0.7s lead, with Alex shadowing Marc in the opening three laps.

On Lap 4, there was a change for the lead. Alex Marquez capitalised on a small mistake made by Marc Marquez at Turn 1, as blue led red for the first time in Argentina.

Meanwhile, Morbidelli had picked his way past Zarco and Bagnaia to climb into P3.

After a busy opening handful of laps, the Grand Prix settled down a tad as the riders settled into their early race rhythms. The blue corner Marquez was leading the red corner Marquez by 0.3s, Morbidelli was 0.7s behind Marc, with Bagnaia a further 0.8s off the back of his fellow Italian. Zarco, meanwhile, was 0.3s behind Pecco.

On Lap 11, it was as you were at the front. Bagnaia was losing ground though on the top three and Zarco was still swarming all over the rear end of his GP25. A couple of laps later, Morbidelli began to lose touch with Alex Marquez and Marc Marquez, but crucially, Morbidelli was still over a second clear of Bagnaia and Zarco.

With 10 to go, Marc Marquez had a bit of a moment coming through the fast Turn 11. It was a warning that cost the six-time MotoGP World Champion a couple of tenths, but a lap later, that deficit had been clawed back. And now, Marc was properly swarming all over the rear Michelin tyre of his brother.

Lap 18 of 25 – an attempted pass. Marc Marquez lunged at Turn 5 but couldn’t get his bike hooked up and stopped in time, so Alex Marquez kept the lead with seven laps to go. And having run wide, the margin between the leader and chaser was up to 0.4s.

What a showdown it was. On Lap 19, the brothers exchanged fastest laps of the race, with Marc going slightly quicker to latch himself on the back of Alex. Then, another move. Again it was Turn 5 and this time, it was a pass that stuck. Now it was all about whether Alex Marquez had anything in response.

The early signs were no, there wasn’t a response. With four laps to go, Marc Marquez stretched his advantage to 0.7s. At the beginning of Lap 22 of 25, the gap was then just over a second, as Marc Marquez’s team-mate Bagnaia was trying to put a late attack together to steal P3 from Morbidelli.

LAST LAP! Marc Marquez held a 1.5s lead over Alex Marquez, with Bagnaia 0.5s behind Morbidelli. Could the 2022 and 2023 MotoGP World Champion find a way to earn a late podium? No he couldn’t. And Alex Marquez couldn’t do anything about Marc Marquez from clinching another victory in 2025 as the #93 made it four wins from four – two Sprints, two Grands Prix – to begin his factory Ducati career in perfect fashion.

Another brilliant effort from Alex Marquez saw the Gresini rider finish second again, as Morbidelli clung on to pocket his first MotoGP podium since the 2021 Spanish GP. Bagnaia was breathing down his neck but the latter walks away from Argentina with an underwhelming fourth place. Bagnaia already 31-points behind his team-mate after only two rounds.

On the final lap, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) pinched P5 away from the incredibly impressive Zarco, as Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) collected a P7 after yesterday’s Lap 1 crash in the Tissot Sprint.

Reigning Moto2 World Champion Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) produced a stellar ride to cross the line in P8 from 15th on the grid, but was then disqualified after the race for using a version of software not homologated by the Championship. That moves Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) up into P8 and means three Hondas are classified in the top 10 as each rider behind gains a place – putting Joan Mir in ninth and Honda HRC Castrol teammate Luca Marini in tenth.

That’s Marini’s best Sunday result in Honda colours, as Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), Quartararo and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) rounded out the points scorers in Termas.

Two Sprints, two Grands Prix, four wins for Marc Marquez. It’s been a magical start to 2025 for the six-time MotoGP King and next up is a trip to the Circuit of The Americas – a track he adores. Can anyone halt Marc Marquez’s momentum in Austin? Alex Marquez and Bagnaia will be two riders who’ll be desperate to do just that.

MotoGP Race Results

Moto2

Pure dominance. Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) was in a league of his own at the Gran Premio YPF Energía de Argentina as the British rider won the Moto2 Grand Prix by 3.5s, with Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) picking up a valuable 20 points in P2. Meanwhile, Celestino Vietti (Team HDR Heidrun) pocketed his first top three of the season in P3.

Getting the best launch from the front row was Dixon as the British stole the holeshot from polesitter Gonzalez. Filip Salač (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) was a keen starter, the Czech rider was an early P3 and then passed Gonzalez for P2 to make it a Marc VDS 1-2 at the front in the early laps.

Gonzalez got his revenge a couple of laps later though as Dixon began to get the hammer down. On Lap 5 the #96’s lead was 0.488s, 0.526s a lap later, as the top two started to set a superior pace. On Lap 8 of 21, Dixon’s lead rose above the one second barrier for the first time, and on Lap 12 the gap had climbed to a smidgen over 1.5s.

In the podium fight, Salač’s race ended on Lap 11 at Turn 5 after attempting to pass Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing), with the incident costing the latter time in his attempts to chase third place Vietti and fourth place Aron Canet (Fantic Racing).

As the scrap for the final spot on the rostrum played out, there was nothing anyone could do about stopping Dixon from clinching a phenomenal victory in Argentina. Dixon was in cruise control to take a debut win on board a Boscoscuro, with Gonzalez picking up an important P2, 3.5s behind the race win. Vietti covered off Canet for P3 to bounce back well from his Thailand disappointment, a great ride from ninth on the grid from the Italian.

Canet settled for P4 in the end, important points for the #44, with Ramirez completing the top five. Darryn Binder (ITALJET Gresini Moto2) was sixth ahead of the impressive Alex Escrig (KLINT Forward Factory Team) in seventh, with Alonso Lopez (Team HDR Heidrun), star rookie Daniel Holgado (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) and Albert Arenas (ITALJET Gresini Moto2) completing the top 10 in Termas.

For Senna Agius, an instructive race weekend on a track that was new to him ended with a pleasing result. Despite constantly changing weather and track conditions, the Australian was able to steadily improve his pace. The 19-year-old then gradually worked his way up to thirteenth place in the race, which earned him another three championship points. He can now travel to Austin in fifth place of the championship, where he will be able to show his potential again in a fortnight’ time at the Circuit of the Americas.

Senna Agius – P13

“This result and this feeling are not what we are working towards this year. I struggled a lot in the race, even though I did my best, but we were really missing something very important. I tried to change my riding style, but I couldn’t build up any feeling from the start and couldn’t get into my rhythm. So, I got stuck behind some riders and couldn’t overtake. That’s a bit disappointing. We’ll take home a few points. But we have to reset and prepare well for Austin. Nevertheless, I would like to thank the team, because they worked tirelessly this weekend. We showed good speed, but something was missing today, we have to analyze that and think about it for America.”

Moto2 Results

Moto2 Championship Standings

Moto3

Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) is a race winner in 2025 after coming out on top in a titanic last lap battle at the Gran Premio YPF Energía de Argentina. The 2024 Rookie of the Year forced his way through on third place finisher Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) at the penultimate corner, with Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing) profiting from the late squabbling to earn P2 in Termas.

Ryusei Yamanaka (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) grabbed the holeshot from the front row, but it was Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) who led at the end of the opening lap. David Almansa (Leopard Racing) took a turn leading in the early exchanges too, as a lead group of 11 formed at the front, with the chasing pack just shy of a second further down the road.

With two to go, Matteo Bertelle (LEVELUP MTA Team) was 0.4s clear at the front and on the last lap, he had edged it up to 0.5s. Could Piqueras and Rueda do anything about it? The advantage had disappeared halfway around the last lap as Piqueras made his move at Turn 7. Rueda followed his compatriot through at Turn 9 and then on the exit of Turn 11, Piqueras was wide and on the green.

That cost the #36 the place to Rueda, but a lunge at Turn 12 followed. Piqueras carved past Rueda, and Fernandez managed to pick off the Thai GP race winner too to shadow Piqueras over the line as the latter clinched his first win of the season. Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) pocketed P4 ahead of Bertelle, but that result was flipped after Furusato exceeded track limits on the final lap.

Almansa was a career-best P6, Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse) claimed P7 ahead of the recovering Joel Kelso (LEVELUP – MTA Team) as the Australian managed to bag P8 despite venturing through the Long Lap penalty lane twice.

Joel Kelso – P8

“Overall it was a positive race. With the two long laps we lost about six-seconds, but we were able to catch up to the leading group. In the last laps, I pushed to the maximum and set one of my fastest laps of the race, despite heavily worn tyres. The weekend was very encouraging, and we have shown that we can consistently fight at the front.”

Kiwi Cormac Buchanan displayed his maturing race craft and ultimately reaped the rewards of tyre conservation to pick off his opponents in the later stages of the showdown at Circuit Termas De Rio Hondo – a track he first experienced on Friday.

Cormac Buchanan – P14

“What a rollercoaster of a race. I’m stoked to finish 14th and bank another couple of points and, most importantly, the gap to first was only about 6 seconds so a massive improvement.  I got a solid start before getting t-boned by another rider late in the opening lap which sent me to the back of the field. It took a few laps to get a feeling with the bike and tires but once I got into my race pace I could start my charge back through the field. After working on my alone pace all weekend, I was able to use it to my advantage in the race, getting to the front of the group I was in, then bridging the gap in front to the next group and so on. I’m very happy as in the process I could match the pace of the lead riders while trying to get back into the race riding alone, something really positive. We managed to get onto the back of the front group but in the last three laps got distanced againwhich was a shame as we had really good late race pace which we didn’t get to use.

“I’m leaving Argentina happy with the consistent pace I showed but definitely wanting more. It’s all valuable experience gained and, along with my crew, we remain firmly focused on the plan we have to keep the trajectory rising. There’s no denying this championship is a huge step up from the junior ranks and facing circuits I’ve never seen, in countries I’ve never been to, for the opening four rounds certainly adds to the challenge but I’m absolutely loving it and so proud to fly the New Zealand flag back in MotoGP. It feels like I got these more through merit than Thailand which I’m very pleased about. Now it’s time to head back to Spain to reset, train and focus on America in two weeks’ time.”

Yamanaka and Stefano Nepa (SIC58 Squadra Corse) closed out the top 10, as home hero Valentin Perrone (Red Bull KTM Tech3) unfortunately crashed out of contention on the final lap after a solid weekend.

Moto3 Results

Moto3 Championship Standings

2025 MotoGP Calendar