The #93 is the first rider to top every session of a weekend since 2015, as Alex Marquez and Bagnaia grab Sunday podiums in Aragon.

Sometimes, sport isn’t about watching a phenomenal fight for victory honours. Sometimes, sport is also about witnessing greatness and enjoying an athlete performing at the very top of their game – and that’s exactly what we’ve done this weekend at the GoPro Grand Prix of Aragon. Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team), for the first time since 2015, topped every session in a Grand Prix weekend to clinch a dominant seventh victory at MotorLand. Simply put: chapeaux. On home turf, brother and title rival Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) took P2 ahead of an improving Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) – the Italian looking somewhat back to the Champion we know and love on Sunday. As the saying goes, form is temporary, class is permanent. 

And this is MotoGP... so don't worry, there was some serious elbows-out action through the field!

LIGHTS OUT: Marc grabs the holeshot

Unlike the Sprint, Marc Marquez got a great launch and the holeshot belonged to the polesitter, with Alex Marquez and Bagnaia slotting into P2 and P3. Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) lost out at the start, the Italian was shuffled down to P7 on Lap 1 from the front row.

The two Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machines of Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder got away well though, they were shadowing Bagnaia in P3 as Acosta showed a wheel at Turn 1 on Lap 2 – but the Italian regained P3 at Turn 2. However, at Turn 12, the #37 did make a move stick on the #63 – but not for long! Bagnaia bit back at the penultimate corner to reclaim P3. This was great viewing for us, but it was costing the duelling duo, plus Binder and Morbidelli time to Marc and Alex Marquez.

A mistake from Sprint podium finisher Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) meant the Spanish rookie was 1.2s behind the fight for P3, as his teammate Alex Marquez shadowed Marc Marquez. The gap was hovering around the half-second mark in the opening exchanges.

PODIUM FIGHT: Factory KTMs chase the Ducatis

Heading onto Lap 7 of 23, the top five were split by 1.4s as both factory KTMs – Acosta and then Binder – set fastest laps of the Grand Prix. But on the next lap, was it time for Marc Marquez to put the hammer down? A 1:47.275 was set as the title race and Grand Prix leader stretched his lead to 0.8s. That lap was a good two tenths – plus a bit more – quicker than Alex Marquez, Bagnaia, Acosta and Binder.

Another fastest lap of the GP, a 1:47.180, saw Marquez’s advantage climb to 1.3s. His chief title rival, Alex Marquez, was the slowest of the top five and the #73 had trouble brewing. And speaking of trouble, back-to-back podium finisher Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) crashed out at Turn 12. An unfortunate end to a great run of form for the Frenchman.

THE RACE TO THE FINISH

On Lap 12 of 23, a podium fight of four became three as Binder’s promising Grand Prix came to a premature end at Turn 2, and then Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) crashed out too. El Diablo slipped out of contention at Turn 1, as his Aragon woes continue.

With nine laps to go, Marc Marquez’s lead was now just under two seconds as Alex Marquez continued to keep Bagnaia at bay by 0.5s. Acosta had dropped to 1.6s off the podium, but the KTM rider had three seconds of fresh air behind him to the Morbidelli-Aldeguer fight for P5. And what a battle it was between the yellow and blue Ducatis.

While chasing Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) for P7, Maverick Viñales’ (Red Bull KTM Tech3) Aragon pursuit ended at Turn 12 in the closing stages, as Marc Marquez demonstrated his dominance by setting the fastest lap of the Grand Prix. Fair play.

Alex Marquez and Bagnaia’s late pace also saw them get into the 1:46s, but neither of them was a match for Marc Marquez at MotorLand as the home hero becomes the first rider to lead every session of a Grand Prix weekend since… Marc Marquez at the 2015 German GP. Supremacy.

Alex Marquez limited the damage and Bagnaia returned to the podium in what must be a massive injection of confidence for the double MotoGP World Champion.

ARAGON’S TOP 15

Acosta couldn’t quite keep tabs on the podium chase but a P4 was a job well done for the double World Champion, as Morbidelli eventually beat Aldeguer in a feisty fight for P5. P7 went the way of Mir as the 2020 World Champion picks up his best result since the 2023 Indian GP, as Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) produced another great comeback to collect a P8 from P20 on the grid.

Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) was ninth ahead of Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team), the Spaniard rounded out the top 10. Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Yamaha Factory Racing wildcard Augusto Fernandez, Jack Miller and the Australian’s Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP teammate Miguel Oliveira were the final point scorers in Aragon.

Well, we could have expected it, but delivering it is different. The master of MotorLand enjoys a perfect weekend on home soil, as Marc Marquez now heads to Mugello with a 32-point Championship lead over Alex Marquez. Will the pendulum swing the other way in Italy? Can Bagnaia hit back? Only time will tell. 

MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix results

Three thousandths of a second. That’s all that separated winner Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and second place Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) in an all-time classic Moto2 thriller at the GoPro Grand Prix of Aragon – the closest finish in the new era of Moto2. Third place went the way of Barry Baltus (Fantic Racing Lino Sonego), the Belgian claiming his third podium in the last four races. 

From a historic pole, Moreira pocketed the holeshot but at Turn 7, Öncü led. The Turk was on a march as we then witnessed double CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team drama. Daniel Holgado, out of control in the downhill braking zone at Turn 12, wiped out luckless teammate David Alonso as both crashed out on Lap 1. 

Back at the front, Baltus was our new race leader on Lap 2. After a qualifying disaster, Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) was up to P14 at the same stage, one place ahead of 2024 Aragon GP winner Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), as Aron Canet (Fantic Racing Lino Sonego) carved his way past Moreira on Lap 3 to demote the polesitter to P4. And on Lap 6, the top four of Baltus, Öncü, Canet and Moreira were locked together, with Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools SpeedRS Team) the chief chaser in P5, 1.4s adrift. 

On Gonzalez watch, Lap 11 saw the #18 sit 0.7s away from the quartet of riders battling for P5 – those were Lopez, Filip Salač (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), Silverstone winner Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) and Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing Team). And further up the road, Öncü was getting a wriggle on. The Turk set the two consecutive fastest laps of the race on Lap 13 and 14 of 19, which put him 0.5s clear of Baltus. What did the Belgian, Moreira and Canet have in return? The answer from the Brazilian (Moreira) was a new fastest lap of the Grand Prix, but the gap – after a small fight with Baltus – was now 0.7s. 

Moreira was coming though, and fast. Heading onto the final lap, the gap was zero after another fastest lap of the race! Öncü vs Moreira, Turkey vs Brazil. Turn 5 saw Moreira take the lead, so what answers did Öncü have? It all came down to the final two corners. And what a finish it was. Öncü hung his Triumph-Kalex around the outside as the duo locked elbows on the run to the line. Two rising stars gunning for their first Moto2 victory and by the skin of his teeth, Öncü stole it by 0.003s! Wow. 

Baltus didn’t quite have the pace in the closing stages but it’s a third podium of the year for the Belgian, as Agius and Salač completed the top five ahead of Canet, who faded in the latter laps. Roberts beat teammate Marcos Ramirez by 0.060s, with Gonzalez’s comeback ending with a P9 – a result that keeps him top of the Moto2 Championship. 

Find full Moto2 Grand Prix results HERE and come back for more in two weeks from Mugello!

Muñoz denies Quiles for maiden Moto3™ victory in MotorLand epic

Leaving it until the last lap to take a first win is one thing, but the last corner is another. Still, David Muñoz (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) finally got the job done in style at the GoPro GP of Aragon, taking a first win after a final corner attack on rookie sensation Maximo Quiles (CFMOTO Viel Aspar Team). In P3 it’s another rookie who continues to impress as Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) came strong late on, whilst teammate and Championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda made a last lap mistake to cost him late on and crossed the line in P8.

HOW IT STARTED: Rueda the long-time leader
Grabbing the holeshot, Rueda was able to get through the opening sector cleanly but behind, a fast-starting Quiles had got into P2 at Turn 3, passing Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse). Quiles wasted no time by getting straight onto the back wheel of the #99 ahead of him as the usual early freight train in Moto3 took shape. Further back down the field, a tricky weekend for Stefano Nepa (SIC58 Squadra Corse) continued when he was taken out by Vicente Perez (LEVELUP-MTA) at Turn 9.

On Lap 4, there was a clear established group of four at the front as joining Rueda and Quiles were Muñoz and David Almansa (Leopard Racing), both with great pace all the way through the weekend. However, just three laps later, it was all one big group again but down one rider as Jacob Roulstone (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) was forced to retire with a technical problem.

CLOSING STAGES: the lead changes
Into the second half of the 17-lap encounter and it was Almansa making moves back into the podium places but Sunday specialist Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) was right there too, ahead of Carpe, Championship challenger Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmet – MSI), his teammate Ryusei Yamanaka and Joel Kelso (LEVELUP-MTA) all right there. On Lap 12, the lead changed for the first time with Lunetta and Muñoz getting ahead of Rueda, who was down to sixth place. Soon, it was Almansa who had got to the head of the field, showcasing his weekend pace when it mattered.

MUÑOZ VS QUILES: a last lap decider
Into the last two laps, Quiles headed the group of ten riders but Muñoz was right there with him and hit the front to lead onto the last lap. Quiles retaliated and behind there was also a costly error for Rueda, with the Championship leader getting it all wrong into Turn 1 and costing himself a load of places. It was all boiling down to a final slipstream battle but the #28 of Quiles looked to have it sorted until Muñoz made a bold move into the final corner, keeping it clean and making it stick. Quiles tried to hit back on the drag to the line but came up just short as Muñoz becomes the latest winner in Moto3. Quiles missed out by just 0.050s as he waits it out for his own first victory, whilst remaining coy in third, Carpe could only watch on the duel for glory but nevertheless took a second rostrum of his rookie year.

It was a career-best P4 for Almansa who continues to edge closer to a first podium, ahead of Lunetta and Piqueras, with the latter taking a couple of points out of Championship leader Rueda. Kelso managed to come through for P7 ahead of Rueda who rues his last lap mistake, whilst Yamanaka and Cormac Buchanan (DENSSI Racing – BOE) rounded out the top ten, the New Zealander equalling his best result yet. They just edged out Furusato, who couldn’t quite capitalise on his season-best qualifying.

Next up: Italy. There’s more from Mugello very soon so see you there as Moto3 guarantees another stunner. Full results from Moto3’s Grand Prix of Aragon!