Marc Márquez dominates Saturday in Qatar and regains MotoGP lead

Marc Márquez finds no rival on Grand Prix Saturdays. Since debuting in official Ducati red, the Spanish rider has claimed all poles and sprints. If not for the mistake he made in the Austin race, when he crashed while leading, he would be talking about a perfect start to 2025. In any case, the eight-time world champion is having an unstoppable start to the season, even on tracks like Lusail, where he was expected to have a lower profile. "For me, this Saturday is more important than the previous ones because this circuit was marked in red, where I should suffer, and we have already regained the lead, and let's see if we can maintain it tomorrow or lose it by very little," explained the new World Championship leader, who confessed that he doesn't like the current Grand Prix format Saturdays because "you can't celebrate anything, because there's still Sunday's race."

After securing another record pole in Lusail, Marc had his brother Álex next to him on the grid, as has been the case all season because the Márquez brothers have always been first and second in qualifying. Closing the front row, this time there wasn't another Ducati, but Fabio Quartararo's Yamaha, which interspersed in the Italian bikes' swarm. Pecco Bagnaia wasn't at the front, having failed in Q2 after a crash and starting eleventh, but an express comeback from the Turin rider was expected, which didn't happen.

Marc Márquez didn't falter at the start and maintained the lead when the Qatar lights went out. His brother Álex was right behind him, trying at the start of the second lap. He went side by side on the long main straight and braked later at turn 1. He managed to overtake but went slightly wide, and Marc immediately regained the lead. From there, the sprint was over because the elder brother's relentless pace left no chance for the younger. "At least I don't have the regret of not trying, but Marc had something more than us," Álex commented after securing another second place. "I kept up with his pace until I saw I was taking too much risk, and then I settled for P2. The important thing is to keep adding points."

With Marc's fourth sprint victory (6 out of 7 in all starts between Saturdays and Sundays), he climbs back to the top of the standings with 98 points, two more than his brother Álex, and both open a gap with the third-placed Pecco Bagnaia, who was the big loser this Saturday.

Bagnaia's crash in qualifying condemned him to the fourth row of the grid, and he didn't have the pace to recover, overtaking only the riders who opted for the soft tyre (Viñales and Acosta), who paid for it in the end. The two-time MotoGP champion saw the fight for the podium very far away, which lasted until the last lap between Morbidelli, Quartararo, and Fermín Aldeguer. The young Murcian rider overtook the French Yamaha on the last lap and nearly achieved what would have been his first podium in the premier class. He was one lap short because, in the final stretch, he was the fastest on track.

There were four Ducatis at the front, Quartararo finished fifth with the Yamaha, sixth was Di Giannantonio, also with Ducati, and seventh was the Japanese Ogura with Aprilia. Finally, Bagnaia finished eighth, being the last of the Ducatis on track and adding a couple of points in the standings.

It was also a special Saturday for Jorge Martín, in his debut with Aprilia. The reigning MotoGP champion was close to making it into Q2, starting 14th on the grid, and after a good start, he was seen in the midfield in the early laps. He even allowed himself the luxury of overtaking Bagnaia in that initial sprint phase, but logic prevailed, and as the laps went by, the physical toll took its toll. "It was very tough, the end felt eternal, but I achieved my goal of finishing the sprint. Tomorrow will be twice as hard because it will be twice the laps, and I'll try to finish the race, but I wouldn't mind taking it easy on a lap to recover," commented Jorge Martín, who is in his own pre-season.

Saturday was also a day of qualifying in the smaller categories, with a new pole for Manu González in Moto2, the third for the Madrid rider in four Grands Prix. The top three in the intermediate category standings will start from the front row, as behind the poleman will be Moto2 leader Jake Dixon and Arón Canet, third; and two other Spaniards in the second row, Albert Arenas and rookie Dani Holgado. Finally, in the Moto3 class, the pole went to Japanese Ryusei Yamanaka, ahead of Australian Joel Kelso and the leader of the small category, Sevillian José Antonio Rueda.