MotoGP is heading to Thailand for the sixth time in their history, this also marks the first time the country is hosting a season opener. It is also the first time we have a season opener in South East Asia for the first time since 1999, underscoring the region’s growing significance in the sport. Here are the top storylines for this weekend:

Marc Marquez Makes his Debut in Red

Mar Marquez, who was the face of Honda for over a decade, which helped him bag 6 premier class titles switched to Ducati last year, driving a year-old Desmosedici with Gresini. This year, however, he has made a switch to red, joining the Factory Ducati outfit. Hopes are high for the Spaniard who was constantly challenging the factory riders with his a-year older bike, helping him finish third in the Riders Championship. Stats favour Marquez heading into Buriram, as the Ducati bike has been on the pole, won the sprint race and the main race in the last 2 years. Marquez is also the rider with the most wins (2) in the current grid in Buriram.

A point to prove for Francesco Bagnaia

The 2023 MotoGP Champion, Francesco Bagnaia lost out the title last year by fine margins to Jorge Martin. This year, Bagnaia will be looking to turn things around and take his second premier class title. But it will not be an easy feat, as he has been teamed up against one of the greatest riders in the history of the sport.

Setback for Aprillia and Jorge Martin

Jorge Martin created history in MotoGP last year, becoming the only rider to win the title with a satellite team, albeit they were running the factory bikes. But the start of 2025 is not what he would have hoped for. During Day 1 of the Sepang Pre-Season test, Martin had a huge moment on track which ruled him out of the remainder of the test initially. Medical checks diagnosed him with a right-hand fracture and fractures in his left foot, with surgeries to take place later that week. Now, even though the surgeries went well, Martin has been ruled out of Round 1 at Buriram and also Round 2 in Argentina.

❌ @88jorgemartin is set to miss Argentina according to Aprilia Racing's CEO #MotoGP pic.twitter.com/xIp9XU00xl

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) February 27, 2025

Shark Attack in MotoGP: Acosta’s KTM Debut

When Pedro Acosta made his debut last year, hopes were high for the rookie, and boy did he deliver. The satellite KTM rider had 5 podiums, most of any KTM rider, and he finished just 2 points shy of factory rider Brad Binder in a satellite bike. This year he has been promoted to the factory KTM outfit. Confident and fast through testing, can last year’s rookie revelation cause a stir from the start? Yet to bag that first MotoGP Grand Prix victory, it’s a story not just for Thailand but for 2025.

Fresh faces: Rookies to watch out for

Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Racing MotoGP) was one of the standout performers in testing and along with fellow Aprilia rider Bezzecchi, notched up more laps than anyone else. Keep an eye on the #79 during the first round, he may be a surprise package. Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) had a sparkling pre-season too and was one to watch; the Buriram Test proved more challenging but when the visor goes down when it matters, Aldeguer is very likely going to be there.

A rockstar in Thailand and one of the stars of the Season Launch, Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU LCR Honda) has perhaps the hardest job of all the rookies: he’s on an improving but not yet perfected Honda and he’s making his debut at home. He’ll be looking to have a solid weekend on track and shine in the spotlight off it.

Yamaha and Honda on an upward trajectory

Yamaha and Honda appear to be on an upward trajectory as the 2025 MotoGP season kicks off. Fabio Quartararo impressed with his consistency at the Sepang Test, while both he and Alex Rins showed promising improvements at Buriram. With Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP now fielding factory-spec bikes, Jack Miller is already settling in, and Miguel Oliveira is expected to unlock more pace. Meanwhile, Honda’s HRC Castrol squad made notable progress, with Joan Mir and Luca Marini showing competitive pace over Sprint simulations. Johann Zarco continues to be a key asset, and with Aleix Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami bolstering Honda’s development, the Japanese manufacturer seems well on its way back to the front.

Schedule and Where to Watch MotoGP in India

You can watch all the MotoGP sessions live in India on Fancode (digital) and Eurosport (TV Broadcast).

The complete schedule in IST is given below:

Two world championships with season openers on the same weekend. Read our WEC Qatar 1812KM preview here.

MotoGP once again returns to Misano for the second time this season. The original race was scheduled to be in India, then in Kazakhstan and finally in Misano. Join us as DRC previews an exciting weekend ahead of the 2024 Emilia Romagna Motorcycle Grand Prix. Read the last race review here.

Three-way MotoGP title fight brewing

At the start of the year, it looked like it would be either Jorge Martin or Francesco Bagnaia who would be the title protagonists. It looked like it was the case even in Silverstone. But with his recent return to form, Marc Marquez has also made his claim as a potential title challenger. With back-to-back wins, the last one on the same circuit in Misano, he is one of the favorites to win. Right now the Gresini rider sits 3rd in the championship, 53 points behind leader Jorge Martin. With a bit of luck and a lot of victories, Marquez surely has a chance at his ninth title.

While Marquez needs some luck, the two at the front don’t. Both Martin and Bagnaia are 50 points ahead of the opposition and have dominated this year with all but 3 wins going to them. 7 points separate them with martin leading the championship by 7 points. A lot of pressure will be on him to outscore Bagnaia for some crucial points. Another big talking point will be how well can Martin handle pressure. Pecco has been very good at putting Martin under loads of pressure, which often culminates in him making a mistake or crashing out. Martin in the past has been vocal about how he needs to be better in the psychological battle against Bagnaia.

Francesco Bagnaia will come into this weekend as confident as ever after topping the Misano test right after the San Marino GP. He is the home-crowd favourite and has more wins than anybody else this season. Misano historically has not been his best track, with him winning twice in 8 starts since his debut.

Yamaha aim improvements

The last race at Misano was an excellent stride in improvement for Yamaha. Fabio Quartararo put his factory Yamaha in the top seven. And this was not just the rain mixing things up. Fabio was 6th and 9th in the practice sessions, got a straight entry into Q2 and qualified ahead of every single Aprilia. Alex Rins had a fantastic ride as well and was at one point fighting for tenth place when the rain came.

This is the first time in nearly a year that a Japanese bike has cracked a top-10 finish. Further, Fabio finished fifth in the Misano test earlier on and showed great improvement with the new tire compounds being tested. This was received by the community as a huge leap forward for Japanese motorcycle racing, and Yamaha has said with recent improvements they aim to be fighting at the top end by the end of the 2025 season. With Prima Pramac also switching to Yamaha 2025 onwards, the team will also benefit from having European expertise involved in the development process.

Honda on the other hand, are facing blow after blow. Both Repsol Honda riders sat out the San Marino Grand Prix due to sickness. Repsol also parted ways with Honda after a very successful partnership that saw them win 15 titles and score more than 450 podiums in MotoGP.

The LCR Honda team scored some points for the Japanese powerhouse, but the outstanding problems with the bike are still fixed. Zarco was the lead Honda in the Misano test in 18th place 1.3 seconds off the lead. Johann Zarco even went on to say that there were some problems whose cause have not even been identified as of now, and a “total postmortem” of the bike is necessary to make it competitive. He also went on to say that it is not that Yamaha and Honda are bad, just the fact that Aprilia, KTM and Ducati are way better.

KTM look to impress again, Aprilia try to bounce back

KTM were the team that took the challenge to Ducati here two weeks ago. Three KTMs were in the top three with Brad Binder, Jack Miller and Pol Espargaro finishing ahead of every single Aprilia. The wonder rookie Pedro Acosta was also on point fighting for a potential 4th place but crashed out while duelling with Morbidelli and had to finish a lap down in 17th.

Acosta was once again the lead KTM in the Misano test, finishing a strong 4th by the end of the day. He was the leader of the pack until the final hour when Bagnaia, Morbidelli and Bastianini put in very quick laps to overtake him. Binder, Miller and Dani Pedrosa also impressed with the consistent pace.

Aprilia have traditionally not fared well at Misano and it showed in both the San Marino GP and the test. The only Aprilia to score points last time out was that of Miguel Oliviera for Trackhouse. They were outpaced and outraced by the KTMs and hence dropped valuable points to them in the Constructer’s championship. KTM will once again try to jump on this opportunity to score more points than Aprilia. It is rumored that they may bring in Pedrosa as a wildcard in-order to score more points, just like they did with Espargaro last time out.

Weekend Schedule and weather report

This is how the weather looks like for the Emilia Romagna GP

This is the weekend schedule. All times are in IST. Races can be watched live on Eurosport and on Jio Cinema.

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The 2024 MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix was a race of treacherous conditions, insane rides and vicious gambles. With uncertain weather conditions, this flag-to-flag race is already amongst the greats. Join us as DRC reviews a fantastic San Marino Grand Prix weekend. Read more MotoGP news, reviews and previews here.

What is a flag-to-flag race?

Before we get into the review, lets talk about what a flag-to-flag race in MotoGP is. Unlike Formula One or other forms of car racing, MotoGP or any Motorcycle Grand Prix racing employs other forms of pitstops. MotoGP pitstops work in the sense that there are different bikes with different sets of tires on them, so if you want to pit, you just ride into your box and hop onto another bike.

In MotoGP, a rider can freely enter the pits during qualifying and practice, but only at certain times during the sprint and the race. This is during times where the weather conditions have drastically changed and it would be unsafe for riders to continue on the same tires. This is signaled to the riders in the form of a white flag, allowing them to enter the pits. This type of race with changeable weather conditions wherein a rider can use multiple bikes in the same race is called a Flag-to-Flag race.

Some famous flag-to-flag races in MotoGP include the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, the 2016 German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring and the 2015 San Marino Grand Prix at Misano.

Marquez reigns in the chaos

Marc Marquez did not have a good saturday at all. After his comeback win in Motorland Aragon last week, the Spaniard looked quick from the get go. But his chances at pole slipped when he crashed out from a pole worthy lap in Q2. He would then start and finish the sprint in a lackluster ninth place.

He was in ninth for a little while when the race started, but quickly picked off places from Fabio Quartararo, Alex Marquez and Marco Bezzechi before capitalizing on Pedro Acosta and Franky Morbidelli’s crash to move up into fourth. This was when the chaos started. A white flag was waved in leu of rainfall at the track. Jorge Martin was the first to enter the pits to swap bikes and Marquez moved upto third behind Jack Miller and Bagnaia. He would then pass both of them the next lap and win comfortably with a huge margin of 3.1 seconds.

Martin on the other hand, changed bikes too early and was racing with wets on a relatively dry track. He had to pit again and had to go a lap down, ultimately finishing 15th. Francesco Bagnaia followed his guts and managed to finish second ahead of team mate Enea Bastianini who once again, sliced through the field on a late charge to the podium.

This in Marc’s own words, was a ‘special win’ as he led Gresini to their first home win. He also dedicated his win to the late Fausto Gresini, in whose honor the team was running a special livery.

KTM and Jack Miller Impress, while Aprilia struggle

KTM was the main contender of Ducati in Misano instead of the Aprilias. Pedro Acosta was the lead KTM as he qualified fifth ahead of another KTM of Brad Binder, both the Gresini Ducatis and the factory Ducati of Bastianini. Binder would then show why he is called the ‘sunday-man’ after losing out in the start to utimately finish in fourth. Acosta the rookie was also impressive, dueling with the Prima Pramac Ducati of Morbidelli until he crashed from fourth place. Thankfully he was able to get back up but finished a lap down in seventeenth.

Another talking point for the weekend was Jack Miller. The Australian finished 8th, but there is more to that story. He was running as high as second, and even dueled with Bagnaia and Bastianini, but would then be passed after his tires ran out of grip. This is a much needed result for Miller, as he is without a ride next season and this race showcased just how great his racing skills are. Wildcard Pol Espargaro finished tenth, making it three KTMs in the top ten, ahead of every single Aprilia.

The Aprilias struggled for pace all weekend. Maverick Vineales was the lead Aprilia in Qualifying in 11th, while Miguel Oliviera was the only Aprilia to score points in the weekend when he finished eleventh in the race. Top Gun finished sixteenth, a lap down while Raul Fernandes finished eighteenth a lap down. Aleix Espargaro retired from the race in a pretty dismal weekend for Aprilia.

Fabio and Yamaha blitz out, while Honda No-Show

Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha have clearly taken their recent lump very seriously, and are hard at work trying to fix the bike’s problems. This weekend at Misano was a very good one for them. Fabio locked in his world title here back in 2021, and now he puts Yamaha in the top 7 this year. Quarataro finished 6th and 9th in the practice sessions, guaranteeing himself a spot in Q2. He would then outqualify the Aprilia of Maverick Vineales and then go onto to finish an impressive seventh in the race. Alex Rins was also running in the top 12, but finished 19th at the flag due to the downpour.

Honda on the other hand, had a mixed weekend. The LCR Honda team, who were running Stefan Bradl as a wildcard this weekend, finished 9 points at the hands of Johann Zarco, Taka Nakagami and Stefan Bradl respectively in 12th through 14th. The factory Repsol Honda team on the other hand was a no show. Both Joan Mir and Luca Marini were sick from friday and decided not to participate in the race saturday itself, with Mir set to miss the Misano test as well. This comes as a salt on wounds type situation for Honda, after Repsol ended thier partnership with them earlier this weekend.

Championship Standings and the next races

Following the San Marino Grand Prix, the championship looks like this:

The next race is also at Misano with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix taking place September 20-22.

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