2025 heads for its final four Grands Prix with the iconic Phillip Island hosting the penultimate flyaway
It's off to Australia and on to 'The Island' - Phillip Island. Mythical to all those who know and to become so for those who don't... yet. The rumble Down Under brings with it one of the most spectacular settings of the season and delivers immense racing, late dramas and last lap showdowns year after year. Phillip Island, come rain or shine, always brings the action and in 2025, with big names absent, it's also a land of opportunity.
MARC MARQUEZ OUT: newly-crowned Champion on the sidelines
With Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) already World Champion but out of action in Australia and indeed Malaysia with an injured shoulder, attention is fully turned to the battle for second. After his Japan highs, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) suffered another low point in Indonesia, failing to score points, denting his quest for the runner-up spot in 2025. That honour currently lies with Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) who was on the rostrum at Mandalika and chases a repeat performance again. Partnering up with Bagnaia in Marc’s absence is Ducati’s test rider Michele Pirro.
It was Alex Marquez’s teammate who stole the headlines last time out though as Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) became the second-youngest MotoGP winner ever, after only Marc Marquez. He now gears up for Australia and Phillip Island, where he was a winner in 2023’s Moto2™ Grand Prix. The #54 loves the flyaways and with a dream come true two weeks ago, can he finish a stunning rookie year with a flurry?
APRILIA’S ROLLERCOASTER: light amidst the challenges
Aprilia’s form may have been good and the potential there for Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) to double up in Indonesia, but his Lap 1 clash with Marc Marquez resulted in huge missed opportunity for the Italian, who was looking to land a blow in the race for P3 overall. The #72 will hope to rekindle the same pace at Phillip Island. He'll likely be joined by Lorenzo Savadori in the box this weekend, with Jorge Martin still out with injury. Ai Ogura’s (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) attendance is subject to confirmation via medical check but it was teammate Raul Fernandez who had the weight of the Aprilia team on him in Indonesia. The Spaniard took a first rostrum in over a year in the Tissot Sprint whilst bagging sixth on Sunday. A double top ten on ‘The Island’ last year, he aims to be in the fight again.
KTM STRENGTH: podium fight, victory contenders?
With two KTMs in the top four on Sunday for the second time in four GPs, the Austrian manufacturer’s second-half push continues. Second last time out and getting the gap to the top four down to 39 points, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) still has a challenge on to catch Bezzecchi but it’s not impossible. Teammate Brad Binder’s fourth place in Indonesia was his best Sunday result of 2025 and having been in the top ten in every Australian MotoGP outing, he searches for a first podium since Lusail last year. Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) was on last year’s Sprint podium at Phillip Island and hopes to bounce back from his Indonesia DNF. He’ll have a different teammate in Pol Espargaro, with Maverick Viñales’ recovery from his shoulder injury sustained at the Sachsenring ongoing.
OUTSIDERS: the battle for P5 and surprise acts from Mandalika
Acosta has risen ahead of Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio overall, both of whom have been in the top ten but neither on a Sunday podium since Mugello. Aldeguer is now just 10 points adrift of ‘Diggia’ whilst 23 further back from MotoGP’s newest Grand Prix winner is Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), yet to enjoy a top six finish Down Under. His fellow countryman and 2023 Australian GP winner Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) rounds out the top ten whilst it was Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) who fought for a podium last time out. Another Yamaha rider who is always a star at his home event is Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP). A podium in 2019 and in victory contention in 2022, expect Miller to be right in the thick of the action once more.
You can never discount Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) or teammate Joan Mir, both of whom have been in the podium fight in recent rounds and in the case of Mir, on the podium at Motegi. Points in the last five GPs and a first Sprint point of the season, Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) hopes to extrapolate that form whilst with three points-scoring finishes in a row, Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda LCR) likewise aims for the same.
What's left to be said? Home to some of the closest finishes, wildest last lap deciders and most unpredictable winners, Phillip Island really is unmissable! Tune in this weekend for the Liqui Moly Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
Moto2™: title race well and truly on with four to go
Talk about title race twists. A huge one unfolded post-race on Sunday in Indonesia, as a shock DSQ for second place finisher and World Championship leader Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) blows the title chase wide open heading into the final four rounds.
Now, as we land at an all-time classic venue - Phillip Island, of course - the gap between Gonzalez and Indonesian GP winner Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) is a mere nine points. The Brazilian’s third win of 2025, coupled with Gonzalez’s misfortune, means the pendulum has swung the South American’s way.
But it’s not just Moreira who has closed right in. Aron Canet’s (Fantic Racing) Sunday salvage job in Mandalika - which saw the #44 promoted to P3 - means the Spaniard is now only 33 points adrift of Gonzalez. And Canet enjoyed podium success in Australia last year, so we should be seeing a good version of the rider third overall this weekend.
Barry Baltus (Fantic Racing) and Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) can’t be fully ruled out of title contention now too. The gaps to the Belgian and Briton? 43 and 59 respectively. A massively tough ask? Absolutely. Impossible? Not just yet.
Away from the eye-catching title race, home hero Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) will be out to repeat his 2024 podium success on the Island this weekend. The Aussie is without a rostrum since his Silverstone victory, so a top three return will do very nicely.
Moto3™: all eyes on silver medal race
The Moto3 World Championship might already be wrapped up by the brilliant Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo), but there’s plenty still left to play for in 2025 - including a silver medal battle that is shaping up very nicely.
Unfortunately, that’s a fight that won’t have Japanese GP winner David Muñoz (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) in it after the #64 suffered a broken femur in Indonesia. It means it’s a straight play, seemingly, between Angel Piqueras (FRINSA - MT Helmets - MSI) and Maximo Quiles (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team) - with the latter also aiming to wrap up the Rookie of the Year accolade ASAP. There’s only 14 points between Piqueras and Quiles, and both will be desperate to finish P2 overall.
Quiles is 60 points clear of Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in that rookie honours chase, and with 75 left on the table after Sunday’s encounter, that title could be his in Australia.
Speaking of Australia, Joel Kelso (LEVELUP - MTA) has returned to form in the last few rounds and after a crash to P10 result in Mandalika, the Aussie will be hoping a podium return will come on the Island - after all, he was a P3 finisher here in 2023. Kelso is also now P5 overall - two points clear of Carpe, and 22 ahead of last year’s Island P3 finisher Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing) after the Spaniard was handed a post-race penalty in Indonesia.
The other Moto3 home favourite is Jacob Roulstone (Red Bull KTM Tech3). The #12 arrives off the back of his best Moto3 result last time out, a P5, so the Phillip Island faithful have two in-form, home grown talents to cheer on. So, can Moto3’s new King, Rueda, be beaten at the first attempt? Maybe, maybe not… But what we do know is that it’s set to be another unpredictable weekend of action.