Ducati star Marc Marquez emerged on top in a tense duel with the Aprilia of Marco Bezzecchi to clinch his 11th victory of the 2025 MotoGP season at the San Marino Grand Prix.
Marquez passed Bezzecchi on lap 12 of 26 and then held off the sprint race winner to take the chequered flag by 0.6s.
With Alex Marquez only finishing third, the older Marquez now has a strong chance of wrapping up his seventh premier class title at the next round in Japan on 26-28 September.
At the start of the race, Bezzecchi pulled away cleanly from pole position, while championship leader Marquez once again made a rapid launch to snatch second place from his brother Alex Marquez into Turn 1.
Marc Marquez kept the pressure up on polesitter Bezzecchi for the remainder of the opening lap, but the two soon settled into a rhythm, with Alex Marquez also following them closely behind them in third.
It wasn’t until lap 11 that the battle for victory reignited, as Marc Marquez renewed his attack on the Aprilia rider.
On the following lap, Bezzecchi cracked under pressure and ran wide at Turn 4, allowing Marquez to come through and claim the lead for the first time.
However, the Spaniard was unable to check out at the front after passing Bezzecchi, with the Italian rider keeping him within striking distance.
Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team
Photo by: Andreas Solaro / AFP via Getty Images
With four laps to run, Marquez appeared to break away from the Italian, pulling out an advantage of 0.6s at the front. However, Bezzecchi immediately responded with the fastest lap of the race, bringing the gap down to 0.3s.
Bezzecchi lowered his own benchmark on the penultimate lap of the race, but Marquez held firm and increased his advantage on the final tour to end another weekend on the top step of the podium.
Alex Marquez couldn’t keep up with the leading duo and dropped more than seven seconds behind them at the finish, but still came away with his ninth podium of the season.
VR46 duo Franco Morbidelli and Fabio di Giannantonio enjoyed a strong showing in front of their home crowd, finishing fourth and fifth respectively after overtaking the factory Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo in the middle of the race.
Quartararo eventually tumbled to eighth place having started on the front row, dropping behind the Gresini Ducati of Fermin Aldeguer and the top Honda of Luca Marini.
Pramac rider Miguel Oliveira equalled his best result of the season in ninth, while Brad Binder brought the sole-surviving KTM to 10th place.
Reigning champion Jorge Martin broke down on the sighting lap and had to dash to the pitlane to jump on his second bike. Although permitted to take his original starting position, a new rule introduced following this year’s British Grand Prix meant he had to serve a double long lap penalty, leaving him 13th at the finish.
Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
KTM young gun Pedro Acosta made a stunning charge in the opening laps to rise from ninth on the grid to fourth place, only for a technical issue on lap 8 to send him out of the race. Marshals were later seen retrieving a chain from the track, suggesting his retirement was caused by the same issue that affected his team-mate Binder earlier in the weekend.
Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia retired a lap later Acosta’s exit, losing control of his bike in the middle of Turn 4 while running in eighth place. It marked a premature end to a nightmare weekend for the two-time MotoGP champion, who also failed to score points in Saturday’s sprint.
Both Joan Mir and Johann Zarco went down at Turn 4 on the opening lap in an incident not caught on camera. While HRC rider Mir, who missed Saturday’s action due to neck pain, retired immediately, Zarco remounted on his LCR Honda, finishing the race in 16th and last.
MotoGP San Marino GP – Race results:
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