Tag: ArgentinaGP

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MotoGP: Marc Marquez Wins in Argentina for his Second Clean Sweep 

The brothers, who are still best friends, put on a brilliant show for the passionate MotoGP fans in Argentina, who could be heard cheering on their heroes every single lap of the race. They came home for their second 1-2 in a row, on a historic day for MotoGP in Spain.

Marc Marquez has equalled the legendary Angel Neito with his 90th win today. It was a stunning victory as he took his second clean sweep in as many races – he took pole, the sprint win and the race win for a perfect weekend in Argentina. 

Despite the result, it wasn’t quite as easy as he would have liked. His brother, Alex Marquez, led most of the race as he fought hard for his first ever MotoGP win. Alex took the advantage when his brother made an uncharacteristic mistake on lap 4, turn 1, and looked set to take the victory. 

Behind him, Marc was evidently pushing the bike to the limit as he wobbled and bounced each time he tried to make a move. The biggest moment happened on lap 15, at turn 11, when the rear of the Ducati bike stepped out and Marc very nearly went down. He then made a failed attempt for the lead on lap 18. He came from so far back that he was forced to go wide at turn 5, letting off the break to avoid contact. 

Eventually, with 4 laps of the race remaining, Marc got past at turn 4, making it stick into turn 5 and quickly pulling out a 1+ second lead. That didn’t stop the brothers from celebrating in parc ferme, with both singing and dancing with their Ducati and Gresini crews. 

Completing the podium today was Franco Morbidelli on the VR46 machine. He was able to steal this position away from Pecco Bagnaia early in the race and used the soft tyre to his advantage. He reported feeling unwell on Saturday but there was no sign of illness today. 

Morbidelli celebrated so much during the cool down lap that he wasn’t able to get the bike started again and had to be pushed into parc ferme by the track marshalls. Once there, he treated us all to some dance moves as he celebrated his first podium since 2021. 

Whilst he didn’t end on the podium today, it was a brilliant day for rookie rider Ai Ogura. There was a huge battle from 5th to 10th today, with riders jostling for position throughout the race. Shining through all this was Ogura who made brilliant moves to end the day in a solid 8th place.

It was a difficult day for Pecco Bagnaia who wasn’t able to capitalise on some of the early moves he made through the field. He started in 4th but had a great start and was quickly fighting with Alex Marquez for 2nd place. Once down in 4th, he then came under pressure from Johan Zarco on the Honda, but was able to just about hold off the frenchman. 

Speaking after the race, Davide Tardozzi, Ducati team manager, told the media that Bagnaia was suffering with a “small problem on the bike which didn’t give him the right feeling on the left corner[s]”. The Italian rider was clearly disappointed and dejected when he returned to his garage after the race. 

It was an even worse day for the other VR46 rider. Whilst Morbidelli was enjoying a podium, his teammate Marco Bezzecchi went down at turn 1 on lap 1. He let off the throttle to avoid contact with Mordibelli but ended up clipping the back of Fabio Quartararo’s machine. Bezzecchi went down into the kitty litter and Quartararo dropped down to the back of the grid. It was a horrible start for the Yamaha rider after starting the race in a fantastic 7th. 

There was another crash, this time for Enea Bastianini, who’s 2025 season is going from bad to worse. He is already struggling to get comfortable on his new KTM machine but, after contact with Raul Fernandez, he crashed on lap 2. He was able to rejoin the field but could only get as high as 18th today.

RACE RESULT

Image Credit: MotoGP

CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT 

With back to back 1-2 results in the first two sprint and feature races of the 2025 season, the Marquez brothers are still leading the championship fight. Despite his tricky day, Pecco Bagnaia can take comfort that he is still well within this championship fight, sitting in 3rd and just 15 points behind Alex. 

Image Credit: MotoGP

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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Moto2: Vietti Holds Off Chantra To Take Composed Win in Argentina

Celestino Vietti was able to hold off significant and consistent pressure from Somkiat Chantra to win in Argentina. He was joined on the podium by both Honda Team Asia riders, with Chantra in second and Ai Ogura in third.

Celestino Vietti was able to extend his lead at the top of the championship standings with a win in Argentina. The win didn’t come easily as he was forced to pass pole-sitter Fermine Aldeguer and hold off a race-long challenge from Somkiat Chantra.

Our record-breaking pole-sitter, Aldeguer endured a horrible crash as he fought with Vietti. He limped his way back to the garage, the devastation clear on his face.

Chantra was thrilled with second place as he led home a double podium for Honda Team Asia. This result comes straight after his win in Indonesia, showing just how much that result has built his confidence.

The biggest story was the battle for third, which rumbled on for most of the race. In the end, it was Ai Ogura who came out on top, ahead of Aron Canet, taking the final podium position.

As It Happened:

As the lights went out, Aldeguer enjoyed a strong start and kept his place at the front of the pack. Tony Arbolino also enjoyed a good start, jumping up from third to second.

Augusto Fernandez, starting in second, had a horrible start and was quickly swallowed by the chasing pack. As they entered turn one, he hit the back of Ogura and crashed out. At the same time, he sent Manuel Gonzalez wide and tumbling down the grid. Fernandez has now failed to win a race since 2019 and will be eager to break this streak soon.

Shortly after, on lap four, Vietti made a late move at turn one and stole the lead from Aldeguer. He quickly found his rhythm and controlled the pack from the front.

With 16 laps to go, Vietti went wide a turn 13 allowing Aldeguer to make his move. As Vietti came back on to the racing line, he came across the front of Aldeguer who was then a passenger as he tumbled in to the gravel. It was a nasty crash that saw him limping away from the track with his arm around a marshal. The stewards deemed the drama as a racing incident with no penalties for either rider.

With Aldeguer back in the garage, Chantra was promoted to second and Canet moved up to third. Chantra quickly caught up to the leader, sitting just 0.2s behind him and breathing down his neck.

With 13 laps left to race, Vietti goes wide again at turn 13, handing the lead to Chantra. However, the same thing happens on the following lap with Chantra the one going wide this time, handing the lead back to Vietti.

As a gap opens up between second and third place riders, Ogura takes that third place spot from Canet. Shortly after, on lap 15, Canet forces himself up the inside of Ogura, only to loose this place three laps later – their ongoing battle allows this gap to open up a little wider. Canet pushes hard but is unable to find a way through until the final lap of the race.

Further down the grid, Jake Dixon was chasing down Arbolino and the rest of the top five riders. Despite sitting two seconds down the road, he was setting some blistering lap times and quickly catching up to Arbolino. Dixon’s moment came on lap 21 as Arbolino seems to start struggling, heading fifth place to the Brit.

At this point in the race, Arbolino wasn’t the only rider to struggle – A number of others were also facing difficulties as Gabriel Rodrigo crashes at turn nine, followed by Jorge Navarro at turn two and Lorenzo Dalla Porta at turn five. This meant that yellow flags were being waved around the circuits, temporarily halting Canet’s attack on Ogura.

On the following lap, with just two laps remaining, Vietti threw down the gauntlet as he finds more lap time and extends the gap to Chantra. At this point, it looked like the win was pretty much in the bag for the championship leader barring any drama or mistakes.

In the dying moments of the race, Canet was still looking for a way past Ogura. On the final lap, he finally forced Ogura to make a mistake as he went wide at turn five. Canet goes on to make a similar error two corners later, however he is just able to stay ahead.

It wasn’t until the penultimate corner that Ogura was able to retake third and, as the checkered flag fell, Ogura flew down the final straight to cross the line 0.1s ahead of Canet.

Just 1.5s earlier, Vietti crossed the line to claim his second win in three races – so far this season, he has only lost five points.

Having fought hard, Dixon managed to keep Arbolino behind him as the pair crossed the line in fifth and sixth respectively. Moto3 champion, Pedro Acosta finished in seventh, enjoying a better race this weekend. The top ten was rounded out by Albert Arenas, Bo Bendsneyder and Sam Lowes.

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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