By: The Karr Report.
The 2025 MotoGP season kicked off in Thailand this weekend!
Saturday was hot, but Sunday was a scorcher of note at the Chang International Circuit. Guys were putting on sunscreen underneath their leathers, and dousing themselves in ice water.
Moto3:
Two words to describe our season opener: absolute chaos.
It all started on the opening lap when Buchanan tucked his front end entering the final turn. His bike morphed into a squeegee, wiping O’Shea clean off the track. While Buchanan managed to rejoin the race, O’Shea slowly rose to his feet, giving Buchanan a round of applause as he disappeared down the straight.
On Lap Seven, Perrone and Buasri got tangled up at Turn Three. Perrone looked right miffed.
Turn Three claimed another victim in the shape of Furusato a lap later; the Japanese rider made an awkward running attempt at a remount.
Lunetta was redirected into the Turn Three gravel for a little trenching during the ninth lap, via a firm nudge by Muñoz. Muñoz was later slapped with a Long Lap Penalty. He never managed to serve it because he hopped off his bike at the third turn in order to kiss the tarmac on Lap Thirteen.
This is not the correct way to atone for your sins, Muñoz.
At the end of Lap Eight, Pini retired to his pit box.
Apparently, a hard shoulder-and-knee-bumping with another rider had bruised up his left side extremities sufficiently to be too painful to continue racing.
During Lap Ten, Yamanaka was left on his arse at Turn Five, after his bike went off like a compressed spring being released.
Carraro found himself on the floor on Lap Twelve.
At this stage, it had become a race of survival…
Two more riders came to blows by Lap Sixteen:
Kelso ran into and up Piqueras’ rear, sending both riders flying off the track at the final turn.
Ogden, at the final turn of the final lap, went bodyboarding across the pebbles after some contact with Almansa.
Up Front: When Munoz eliminated himself, Rueda steadily built up a lead of over seven seconds, affording himself a stand-up wheelie across the finish line.
Rueda the clear victor, Carpe finished second – his first Moto3 podium, and that as a rookie. Third place went the way of Fernández.
Our Ruche Moodley finished in a solid eleventh.
Good job, kid!
Sidebar:
Roulstone, with a fractured neck vertebra, had to watch on from the side of the track this weekend. At least he wasn’t too lonely – Dettwiler is also out injured.
Moto2:
By the start of the Warm-Up Lap, Escrig’s bike was still in pit lane, frantic work being done around it. Unfortunately, he never did make it out in time for the race.
His teammate, Navarro, ended their team’s day early when he tumbled out at Turn Five during the opening lap. Not a great day for these guys.
Both Binder and Guevara were handed Double Long Lappers for jumping the start.
Vietti and Agius were aiming for the same shred of tarmac going into Turn Eleven for the twelfth time, resulting in Vietti getting punted off the track.
Was it a poor overtaking decision on Agius’ part, or simply two lines converging? Regardless, Vietti was livid, while a Long Lap Penalty for irresponsible riding for Agius was little compensation.
Mimicking his Moto3 counterpart, González pulled out a lead large enough for him to do a stand-up wheelie of his own across the finish line. Another runaway victory for Sunday.
Second place went to Canet, while Agius – Long Lap and all – fought hard to clench third.
Darryn Binder ended up taking seventeenth after a jump start penalty:
“I’m really disappointed with myself, it’s the first jump-start I’ve ever had in the World Championship and in my life. Unfortunately that ruined the whole race. I really enjoyed the first couple laps, riding on the front was nice, but I did the double long lap, I rejoined the race in the back and as soon as the front tyre got hot, I was riding just to finish, as I didn’t have the right feeling with the front. Anyway, onto the next one, we’ll take the positive and try again in Argentina”.
Sidebar: No García this weekend, due to a broken finger.
MotoGP:
If you are not a Marquez fan, you might just be in for a long season…
The first rider to win on a Ducati Grand Prix debut since Casey Stoner in 2007, Marc Marquez departed Thailand with a perfect start to his title charge.
In Thailand, two riders were handed a three-place-grid-position penalty, most notably Morbidelli for tripping up his buddy Bagnaia during practice. The other rider was the Thai local hero, Chantra.
Sprint Race:
Admittedly, this wasn’t the most exciting Sprint race we’ve ever seen. Márquez Senior ran off with the lead (as many predicted), while Márquez Junior followed suit in second. By half race distance, Marc’s lead was over a second strong.
Also around half race distance, Miller went sliding into the gravel at Turn Eight at speed. Very clean slide but not the ideal trajectory in a racing setup. He gets a clean 7.
DiGi’s race ended prematurely when his dayglo yellow machine suffered a mechanical stroke, refusing to race any further than the eleventh lap.
(Update: apparently, it was not his motorcycle’s fault – DiGi was suffering from sunburn on his arms and legs – through his leathers!)
Just to refresh your memory: Márquez (Marc) cruised to victory, followed at a distance by little brother Álex in second, who in turn was followed at a great distance by Bagnaia, who had to be content with third.
Brad Binder managed to recover up into eighth.
Honorary mention to Ai Ogura. The rookie nipped at Bagnaia’s heels all race, until the blood began to flow, finishing his debut Sprint in fourth. Well done, Ai!
Main Race:
Early rumours of the main race getting shortened due to the heat were quickly dispelled. The riders would have to sweat it out for the entire twenty-six laps, or crash trying.
Tardozzi, pre-race, on the grid:
‘The hot is incredible.’ Yes, yes it was.
Chantra is officially the first Thai rider to compete in the Premier class. And he did not disappoint his fans.
When starting the fourth lap, Pedro Acosta did a Denial Slide out of Turn One. That would be a slide where you remain seated, in full race mode, as though you’re not going in the wrong direction.
He did rejoin the race after picking himself and his bike up off the tarmac.
Márquez (Marc) gave all his fans a mini heart attack when he, during Lap Seven, suddenly sat up at Turn Three, cruising until his little brother passed him.
Then, suddenly, he peeled off after him again, like nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened.
On Lap Fifteen, Mir slid out of Turn Twelve not-at-all-gracefully. He gets a four.
While fixated on Marc’s hounding of Álex for first, we noticed something dangling from the younger Márquez’s Ducati. Transponder? Rear camera? Either way, it seemed the heat had melted whatever was used to fix it to the bike.
Fernández disappeared into the pits at the end of Lap Twenty-Two.
With a late overtaking maneuver, Márquez Senior snatched back victory, leaving Márquez Junior in second, again. Bagnaia had to settle for third.
Binder made a solid recovery in the later stages of the race to finish in eighth.
In Parc Fermé, after the interviews were done and dusted, a miniature Thai version of Marc appeared, complete with full racing leathers matching Marc’s.
If this little ten-year-old kid with a ‘93’ shaved into his hair looked familiar, well, you’d be correct:
When Marc crashed out of the 2024 Thai GP, we saw a young fan bawling his eyes out. This was that same little fan.
This time, Marc made him smile like he’d won the Lottery, getting to sit and stand atop Marc’s Ducati, and even getting a selfie taken with his hero.
If any crying occurred, it would’ve been tears of joy.
Good one, Marc.
Sidebar:
Reigning World Champion, Martín, was not seen this weekend following his pair of nasty spills pre-season.
That’s it for the first round of 2025 – stick around, There’s a lot more to come.
