Marc Marquez won the MotoGP Tissot Sprint race Saturday afternoon at Termas de Río Hondo, in Argentina. Riding his Lenovo Team Ducati Desmosedici GP25 on Michelin control tires, the Six-time MotoGP World Champion won the 12-lap race by 0.903 seconds.
His brother, Alex Marquez was the runner-up on his BK8 Gresini Racing Ducati Desmosedici GP24.
French sensation, Johann Zarco crossed the finish line fourth on his Castrol LCR Honda RC213V.
For the championship, Alex Marquez is 11 points behind his brother Marc Marquez who has 49 points. Francesco Bagnaia is third with 30 points.
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Marc Marquez fends off Alex Marquez to clinch Saturday gold in Termas. The #93 was run close by the #73 but it’s the six-time MotoGP Champion who continues his 2025 victory streak, Bagnaia collects the bronze medal.
A second perfect Saturday on the spin comes the way of Marc Marquez as the Ducati Lenovo Team star fends off the threat of Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) to win his second Tissot Sprint of the season, this time at the Gran Premio YPF Energía de Argentina. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) bagged P3 for the third time in 2025 to pocket more important points, but last year’s #1 was 3.8s off the win.
HOW THE SPRINT UNFOLDED: A Marquez battle out front
Marc Marquez got another perfect launch from pole and grabbed the holeshot ahead of Alex Marquez, as Bagnaia grabbed an early P3 with Johann Zarco (LCR Honda CASTROL) not getting away well from Row 1 – the Frenchman was P6.
Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was a faller on Lap 1 following contact with Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), as the former’s teammate Pedro Acosta climbed up to P4 ahead of the fast starting Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). Meanwhile, the Marquez brothers were pulling the pin at the front.
On Lap 4 of 12, Alex was 0.2s behind Marc, while Pecco was operating 1.3s away from the scrap. The 2022 and 2023 MotoGP World Champion was 0.5s ahead of Acosta, who in turn had Zarco right up his tailpipes.
At the halfway stage, Alex Marquez wasn’t allowing Marc Marquez to escape. Both were setting 1:37.7s, with Bagnaia also in the 1:37s but a couple of tenths slower per lap at this stage. And on the next lap, Bagnaia was back in the 1:38s. The Italian didn’t have any answers to the Marquez duo, so it was a two-horse race for Tissot Sprint victory in Argentina.
With four laps to go, the gap was 0.371s. Was Alex Marquez now struggling to keep tabs on his older brother? It looked like that was the case. The gap grew to 0.475s with three laps left, and then it was 0.721s with two laps to go. The fight was now seemingly over, but Alex Marquez was still close enough to keep his sibling sweating.
Sweat he did, but the six-time MotoGP World Champion made zero mistakes on the last lap to bring his Ducati GP25 home for a third win of the season, his second in a row on a Saturday. Alex Marquez crossed the line 0.903s shy to claim another podium, with Bagnaia forced to settle for P3 – but it’s more important points on the board for the #63.
THE POINTS SCORERS
After a sluggish launch from the grid, Zarco picked his way back up to P4 to finish just 1.1s behind Bagnaia. That’s a top Saturday outing for the incredibly impressive LCR Honda star, as Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) rounded out the top five. Marco Bezzecchi flew the Aprilia Racing flag in P6, the Italian beat his VR46 Academy stablemate, Morbidelli, by a second. The latter collected P7 in the Sprint, with Joan Mir(Honda HRC Castrol) claiming two Sprint points in P8 after a late move on Acosta as the KTM rider dropped to P9 after a bright opening few laps.
The run continues then. Marc Marquez dances his way to a maximum Sprint points haul in Termas, but he was made to work for it by Alex Marquez who will be hunting revenge on Sunday. Can Bagnaia bridge the gap and bring the fight to his Ducati rivals? And what can Zarco manage to do if a better start is unravelled? Find out at 15:00 local time (UTC -3) when Sunday’s much anticipated Grand Prix of Argentina fires into life.