GP is back after an unexpectedly long break courtesy of a bunch of bickering warlords up in the East. One can see none of them have MotoGP racers actively dominating the Championships, and it’s hurting their egos.
But all of that aside, this was Jerez! Quite possibly THE track in Spain to be at, with a massive crowd and even massiver vibes…
By: The Karr report.
Moto3:
The sky was blue and the sun was sunny when the Juniors arrived on the grid. Spanish fans were treated to an all-Spanish front two rows.
As the riders waited for the red lights to blink out, a yellow flag was seen at the very back of the grid, which delayed the start just enough for the stewards to determine the cause was not in the way of the rest, and that the race could start normally.
What was the cause?
Rammerstorfer, the rider dead last on the grid. He was quickly wheeled off to his garage, his race finished before it could even begin.
Bertelle went tumbleweeding out of the pack at just the first corner after a gentle tap from Fernández spooked his motorcycle enough to make it lose its footing.
After returning to his box, Bertelle rejoined the race by Lap Four, but retired again four laps shy of the checkered flag.
At that stage, a lead group five riders strong had broken away from the rest, and was supplying us with lots of good racing.
We lost Mitani in the last sector during Lap Seven.
Pini quite literally threw his Leopard at the gravel next to Turn Nine on the eighth lap, after obviously having spotted a spider on his dash.
A lap later, Carraro went off at Turn Six.
In the middle of what could’ve been an overtaking attempt through Turn Six on the thirteenth lap, Esteban’s ride decided to include some interpretive dance moves into the mix, resulting in him running into Uriarte, just a little bit. Though nobody fell, Esteban was soon ordered to drop one position as punishment for his bike’s dance moves.
A few laps later, Ríos punted Perrone out of the way, earning him (Ríos) a two-position drop in the results.
Concluding a healthily battle-ridden race, Quiles won his home Moto3 race for the first time, while Fernández took second and Muñoz third in a bumping and barging photo finish for second through fourth.
Re Muñoz: Fatigue who? Pain who? Injury recovery who?
Moodley rode to twenty-second spot.
Moto2:
Guevara was demoted three positions on the grid, after his celebrating impeded those who were still trying to set laptimes worth celebrating.
His teammate, Ferrández, had to start the race from pit lane, as punishment for instigating the epic COTA crash.
García also started the race with a Double Long Lap Penalty to his name.
On the more positive side of the news, Veijer was the first Dutch rider to sit in pole position in thirty-five years.
The race had barely started when Huertas threw his hand in the air, coasting rapidly backwards in the positions.
Technical gremlin, perhaps?
An entertaining battle commenced between the top three, who quickly ran off to have their own race.
During Lap Six, Escrig noticed Holgado and Alonso were having a right good scrap, and thought to himself: I want some of that too!
So, Escrig pushed his way down the inside of the scuffling duet, which resulted in him punting both of them out of the way. But, at least, not off the track entirely.
Canet’s season continued on its arguably poor path when the Spaniard went off at the entry of Turn Eight like a human missile. His motorcycle attempted to jump the barriers to assault a member of the public. It failed.
So did a few bowels on the opposite side of that barrier, no doubt.
It was quite clear from Canet’s animated gesticulations as he was ushered off that, in his opinion, his crash wasn’t entirely his own doing.
On the sixth lap, Turn Six claimed Baltus.
During the same lap, López was abandoned by his bike at Turn Eleven, forcing him to trudge through the graveltrap towards the safety of the wall. It was a lengthy trudge.
We don’t see as many motorcycle racers execute the legendary ‘scorpion’, and so it was with mild surprise – and odd excitement – that we witnessed Furusato doing a mini-scorpion after tumbling off at Turn Thirteen on the ninth lap.
Navarro went sliding on his butt across the tarmac at Turn Six on Lap Eleven, using his right hand as a handbrake. Pun accidental, but now claimed as intentional.
Once he’d come to a stop, Navarro got up slowly, looking around like he had no idea where – or why – he was.
Back to the leading threesome: On Lap Fourteen,two-thirds race distance, Veijer was Intact-mugged, his lead snatched from his hands by the teammates, who left him to recover in third.
We lost Aji at the end of Lap Eighteen.
Agius claimed the win, making it two-in-a-row for the Australian, while his teammate González took second, and Veijer ended up third post-mugging.
While celebrating, Agius did a slidey grass-burnout to impress the fans. Since he did not topple over, we rate this peacockery a steady eight out of ten.
MotoGP:
We guarantee you this: you could not predict the outcomes of these races. For once.
Sprint Race:
As the riders lined up on the grid, the skies darkened slowly, like a freshly settling bruised eye. By the time they pulled off for the Warm Up Lap, tiny spots of drizzle had started to fall.
Many a confused face looked on as Bezzecchi made one of the worst starts ever.
It later came to light that he’d parked his rear wheel slap-bang on top of someone’s tear-off. We’re no super-experts, but we’re pretty sure a tear-off does not offer great pull-off grip.
Martín was fighting hard to regain the ground lost to his grid penalty when, at the start of Lap Two, and while Márquez Junior was making a move down his inside into the first corner, he arced wide.
For a moment we thought he’d simply run wide, but a glowing ring of fire in the vicinity of his front wheel told another story: the Aprilia’s front brake pads were seemingly trying to heat-weld themselves to the brake disc.
Jorge was forced to crawl all the way back to the pits, retiring from the race.
By the third lap, the pure white rain flags emerged, signalling that the riders could at any time come in and swap bikes.
None of them would do so for at least a few more laps.
The chaos started on Lap Eight, when Toprak tried the inside line past Savadori into a corner, possible contact happened, and both riders went sliding off the track amidst the debris of their exploding bikes.
It was getting a teeny bit wet now…
At the end of Lap Eight, Márquez (Marc the Controversial) slipped and slid off at the final corner out of then-second place. His next move has become the subject of much deliberation, discussion, and plain dissing and pissing ever since: Marc quickly remounted, decided that this was as good a time as any to go fetch his rain-shoed Ducati. This meant he had to cut across the track and over the grass to get to the pit lane entrance.
He did this, and it ultimately played greatly in his favour.
Some say he should’ve gotten a penalty; some argue gaps in the rulebook that allowed for this sort of sneaky maneuvre, some simply moaned more than Julius being found guilty.
It was at this stage where a large number of riders opted to pit, swapping to their rain-ready bikes. The first in and out of pit lane was Binder and for a moment, it looked like he might actually be in the running for the win.
On Lap Nine, Miller was seen assaulting the gravel trap somewhere along the track, his bike lying unconscious nearby.
On the same lap, Márquez – the Álex one this time – slipped from the lead, regretting still being on slick rubber as he butt-grinded the kitty litter outside of Turn Eight.
The remaining riders on slicks opted to dive into the pits by the end of Lap Nine. Everyone, it seemed, except Aldeguer. A decision he would deeply regret.
Binder, effectively leading the rain-bike race, slipped on Lap Ten, and though he remounted exceptionally quickly, his hopes of winning the race had faded into the distance.
Not long after Binder’s slip-up, Bezzecchi somehow tumbled off the track, ending up pinned under his Aprilia in the gravel.
Still on Lap Ten, Mir’s race went from worse to worst when he too, fell off his motorcycle.
Miller – who’d apparently managed to get his bike back up after his earlier spill – was caught speeding in pit lane, and was duly handed a Double Long Lap Penalty for it.
By the end of the lap, Aldeguer grudgingly admitted fault, and popped into the pits to get his other bike.
Márquez – Marc – claimed the win with a massive lead, while Bagnaia finished in second, and Morbidelli got third.
Recovering well, Brad Binder ended up taking fourth.
Main Race:
Martín had to start the main race three positions further back as payment towards his Dawdler’s Club membership.
Ignoring the tangerine-in-a-void flags earned Mir a Double Long Lap Penalty, which he had to serve on Sunday. Honestly, we’re convinced Joan has a jinx on him these days.
Raphsplatteryblueglue had to complete one pass through the Long Lap Loop for causing the Sprint crash involving Savadori.
As the first lap ended, so did Bezzecchi’s hundred-and-twenty-one-lap leading streak.
It did not take long for the controversy to hit…
On Lap Two, moments after younger brother Álex made a beaut of a pass on him for the race lead, Marc Márquez went tumbling off at Turn Eleven.
It started with a slow slip. It ended in Marc barrelling through the dust and pebbles, following closely in the wake of his now-naked, bounding Ducati.
Said Ducati managed to catch some mad air at one point. We were impressed.
During the seventh lap, there occurred a scuffle which involved – among others – Acosta and Fernández. In the midst of it all, Acosta’s KTM tagged Fernández’s rear tyre, resulting in his right-side front wing getting launched into the air.
The factory Ducati team’s day went from bad enough to absolutely horrendous when, on Lap Thirteen, Bagnaia peeled to the side of the track, cruising along at what was clearly not race pace. He had unwittingly picked up a stray technical gremlin, and eventually made it to the pits.
Soon after, the doors were shuttered, and the whole team went in search of the nearest beer tent.
Somewhere in between everything else, wildcard rider Savadori retired to the pits, presumably due to being in pain after his Toprak encounter the previous day.
Mimicking his antics from last year, Álex Márquez waved at the packed grand stands as he made his way towards the finish line on the last lap.
Making it two in a row at Jerez, Márquez – we seriously think you know which one by now – took the win, after vehemently denying his chances at doing just that on Thursday. Incidentally, he’d also just turned thirty. Happy birthday indeed, Álex!
Bezzecchi got to experience what second place feels like in 2026, while Di Giannantonio came through in third.
Binder managed to finish in eleventh.
During his celebratory cooldown lap, Márquez Junior fell to his knees in the gravel, soaking up the praise from the maddened fans. After this, he hopped onto one of the canopies next to the fence, did a gentle victory dance, then sat down and celebrated with his fans for a moment.
Álex eventually jumped off – literally- before jogging around the track to get to his Ducati.
Now that we have finally seen a Ducati win a race in 2026, what will be the next fun plot-twist?
~ Karr
