MotoGP News: Marquez brothers 1-2 in COTA Sprint

USA Sprint glory went the way of factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez – but not without a decent slice of drama thrown in along the way.

The #93 eventually beat brother Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) by less than a second in Austin to keep up his 100% victory record in 2025 at the Circuit of the Americas.

Related Article:  MotoGP News: Marc Marquez wins record 8th pole at COTA

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) – after leading on the first lap – brought home a bronze medal to set us up beautifully for the Sunday feature.

AN OPENING LAP SHOWDOWN: Marquez vs Bagnaia vs Marquez

Without any shadow of a doubt, the opening lap of the Sprint was the best lap of the season – and it’ll take some beating too.

Bagnaia, from P6, launched away superbly to grab the holeshot up the hill into Turn 1. Marc Marquez bit straight back at Turn 2 to retake the lead from his teammate, but at Turn 3, it was Pecco doing the overtaking again.

It didn’t take long before Marquez decided to pounce back though, Turn 7 his chosen spot.

So it was Marc Marquez leading Bagnaia and Alex Marquez. But at Turn 17, the #93’s Sprint very nearly came to a premature end.

An almighty rear-end slide led to the six-time MotoGP Champion getting thrown out of the saddle, which cost the Championship leader P1 and P2. Thought we were done?

Nope. Bagnaia and the Marquez brothers were locked together on the exit of Turn 19 and into Turn 20, the final corner, Marc Marquez passed both to retake the lead, with Alex Marquez slotting into P2. That’s worth several rewatches.

HOW THE SPRINT WAS WON

That was some opening lap. But after hitting the front again and getting into a rhythm, Marc Marquez started to build a gap to Alex Marquez. It was 0.6s on Lap 3, as Bagnaia lost touch with the top two.

The Italian had Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) swarming all over his rear tire before the Frenchman had a huge moment on entry to Turn 15, which allowed Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) to slide through. Now, Quartararo was in a VR46 sandwich, with Fabio Di Giannantonio sitting in P6.

On Lap 5 of 10, Marc Marquez’s advantage had shrunk from just under a second to 0.4s. That did rise back up to 0.6s on the next lap though, as Pecco found pace. But was it too late to lock onto the rear end of Alex Marquez?

Meanwhile, a ferocious battle was unfolding between the two VR46 Ducatis and Quartararo. The trio exchanged fourth with four laps to go as the Yamaha star dug deep to try and cling onto a chance of finishing P4 – and what a job he was doing.

With two laps to go, Marc Marquez’s lead was up to 1.4s, while Alex Marquez was still holding Bagnaia at bay by just over a second. However, heading onto the last lap, Alex had reeled in Marc. It was 0.7s over the line, so could anything be done by the younger Marquez to end his brother’s early season momentum?

The answer was no. Marc Marquez held firm to pick up his third Tissot Sprint win on the bounce, with Alex Marquez continuing his P2 streak. Bagnaia claimed an important P3, just under two seconds away from his teammate, but the 2022 and 2023 MotoGP World Champion will be wanting more in Sunday’s Grand Prix despite being pleased with the result.

YOUR SATURDAY POINTS SCORERS IN AUSTIN

After a phenomenal mid-race scrap, Di Giannantonio won the fight for fourth, with Morbidelli keeping Quartararo behind him as the former teammates clinch P5 and P6 respectively – a top effort from the Yamaha star. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) collected seventh and acted as the lead KTM on Saturday, as Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) earned two Sprint points with a hard-earned P8. That was a great ride from the Italian who flew the HRC flag in the points after teammate Joan Mir crashed out from the top nine early doors, with Honda again showing progress – and that was Marini’s first Sprint points with Honda too.

Meanwhile, the final Sprint point went the way of rookie Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) after a great late battle with Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

2025 COTA MotoGP Sprint Race Results

* Rookie