‘Playing with us’: Marquez wins MotoGP opener in bizarre fashion

Ducati continued its dominance with a podium lock-out led by Marquez, his brother Alex Marquez, and Francesco Bagnaia.

From pole position, Marc Marquez got the holeshot into Turn 1 and set about establishing a handy lead.

Bagnaia tried to shover Alex Marquez out of the way at the first turn – and did so – but the Gresini rider fought back to retake second place.

At the head of the field, Marc Marquez controlled proceedings. Then, on Lap 7, the factory Ducati rider slowed out of Turn 3.

Marc slotted in behind Alex and held station thereafter. They stayed line astern lap after lap, which allowed Bagnaia and Ai Ogura to get a sniff of the win.

Finally, just over three laps shy of the finish, Marc put a pass on Alex at the final turn to retake the lead.

From there, he skipped away with the lead and took the chequered first with a lead of 1.7 seconds over his brother.

Early problems for MM93? 👀

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— Fox Motorsport (@Fox_Motorsport) March 2, 2025

In taking victory, Marc Marquez became the first rider to win on their factory Ducati debut since Casey Stone in the Qatar Motorcycle Grand Prix.

Speaking post-race, Marquez was asked about the moment out of Turn 3 but did not reference the incident in his comments.

“Yesterday was happy, today I am super happy. This is a dream. This is a dream to start my new journey with Ducati,” said Marquez.

“In Thailand, when I won my last championship, with my brother — incredible.”

It’s not abundantly clear why Marc Marquez slowed down, although commentators speculated it may have been tyre pressure-related.

MotoGP journalists speculated on social media that Marc Marquez’s tyre pressures had dropped too low, and by dropping behind his brother he could keep the temperature in the tyre high and increase the tyre pressure.

Marc absolutely let his brother past there. Low front tyre pressure light flashing on his dash, I wonder?

— Simon Patterson (@denkmit) March 2, 2025

Marc Marquez’s teammate Bagnaia suggested the six-time premier class champion was entirely in control of proceedings.

“I give my all and I cannot be too close to Alex to try an attempt. Marc was too… he was playing with us all the race,” said Bagnaia post-race.

“Maximum ambition was to finish in P2 but we finish in P3 and I try my best but I was more slow and losing more time in some parts of the track.”

Franco Morbidelli finished shy of the podium in fourth for VR46 while Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura was fifth on the first Aprilia.

Australia’s Jack Miller was only 11th after starting fourth for Pramac. The leading Yamaha rider qualified well but couldn’t keep up in the sprint or grand prix.

The race finished two crashes. KTM rider Pedro Acosta fell at Turn 1 while Joan Mir crashed out of sixth on the factory Honda.

Results: Thailand Motorcycle Grand Prix