MotoGP’s speedy siblings: little brother finally beats big brother

“I tried to manage the tyres and my strategy was to push again, seven, eight or nine laps from the end, when I gave more,” said Alex.

His second MotoGP Sunday victory meant more than his first because this time he had to beat the world’s fastest motorcycle racer.

“This is more special, because it’s not easy to control Marc,” he added.

Alex was unbeatable at Barcelona because he was fast where it really matters, in the long right-handers, especially Turns 3, 13 and 14, where it’s all about smoothness and using the throttle gently to avoid spinning the tyre, which creates a temperature spike, which destroys the rubber. In these situations the fastest rider is often the rider who uses a fraction less throttle, because as soon as the tyre starts spinning, you’re not going forward.

“Alex is super-strong in the long rights and smooth – I’m almost the same speed but I’m fighting against the bike,” explained Marc

So we still don’t know what will happen if the brothers end up side by side, fighting for victory on the last lap.

In fact I asked Alex this exact question a few races ago…

“Okay, if I’m on the inside, I’ll be happy,” he laughed. “If I’m on the outside, I’ll say, ‘F**k you!’”

All four RC16 riders say the upper fairing aero upgrade they received after the summer break has helped a lot. The slight revision to the main wings increases load on the front tyre, so when the rider opens the throttle the tyre maintains better grips, so the rider can use more turning force to turn the bike better. This was a big help in Barcelona’s long, throttle-on corners.

Bastianini’s result brings KTM within two points of Aprilia, which had a mostly luckless weekend, the only bright point Ai Ogura’s fighting sixth place on Sunday for Trackhouse. This was the Japanese rookie’s best result since his amazing debut fifth place at the Buriram season-opener, since when he’s had to deal with some bruising crashes which battered his confidence.

While Aprilia and KTM argue over second place in the constructors’ championship, currently on 239 and 237 points, Ducati secured the 2025 title after the sprint and ended the weekend on 541 points. It will be no great surprise if the Bologna brand triples their rivals’ totals by the end of the season.

This is Ducati’s sixth consecutive constructors crown, which takes them into the manufacturers’ pantheon. The only others to have such streaks are MV Agusta (1958 to 1965 and 1967 to 1973), Suzuki (1976 to 1982) and Honda (1994 to 1999).

MV’s successes in the 1960s and 1970s are an anomaly because they were the only manufacturer contesting MotoGP during most of their time at the top. And their domination came after Count Domenico Agusta double-crossed his rivals at the end of 1957, when he agreed with Gilera and Moto Guzzi to withdraw from GPs because a sales slump had made racing unaffordable.

Once Gilera and Guzzi had announced they were quitting, the Count stunned the racing world by announcing MV would continue. His main business was selling military helicopters, so he had no cashflow concerns.

Thus you could argue that the three greatest MotoGP bikes of all time are Suzuki’s RG500, which dominated the late 1970s and early 1980s, Honda’s NSR500, which ruled the 1990s, and Ducati’s Desmosedici, the machine that made MotoGP what it is today, for better or worse.

Ducati’s GP25 may not be as good as its GP24, but it’s more than good enough in the hands of Marc, who has now scored more than twice the points of team-mate Pecco Bagnaia, who had his worst day of the year on Saturday – 21st in qualifying, 14th in the sprint. On Sunday he recovered somewhat, fighting through to seventh from the seventh row.

Standout rider of the weekend was Fabio Quartararo who achieved what seemed like the impossible aboard Yamaha’s YZR-M1, from Q1 to the front row of the grid to second in the sprint, after possibly the greatest first laps of 2025 so far.

Watching Quartararo battle with Marquez, like they had battled way back in 2019 – two huge talents, no quarter given or taken – was a real treat.

Quartararo is testing Yamaha’s all-new V4 MotoGP bike at Barcelona as I write this. Yamaha already believes the bike is good enough to race, otherwise they wouldn’t have their chief test rider Augusto Fernandez racing it this weekend at Misano. And if it’s good enough to race now, surely it will be good enough for Quartararo to race in the Japanese GP later this month. Because they are only wasting development time by continuing with the inline-four.