Pecco Bagnaia took his first win of the 2025 MotoGP season in the Grand Prix of the Americas, as Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez crashed from the lead in a race shrouded in massive controversy due to an aborted start.
Marquez's crash means his brother Alex Marquez now leads the MotoGP standings for the first time in his career by one point - with Bagnaia 12 points back from Alex and 11 points back from Marc, the damage from his rough start to the season virtually undone.
Leading finishers
1 Bagnaia
2 A Marquez
3 Di Giannantonio
Full results at bottom of page
The start chaos
The preceding Moto2 race had been wet and it kept raining enough in the aftermath for the vast majority of the MotoGP grid to prepare to start the race on wet tyres.
But there were three exceptions to the rule - in Brad Binder (KTM), Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) and Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia). And when poleman Marquez suddenly sprinted to the pitlane for a last-gasp change of bikes - and was followed by several riders - it became clear the aforementioned trio had played a blinder.
Yet with much movement in the pitlane and the comical scene of Maverick Vinales running up the grid desperately trying to get himself a slick-tyred bike, the race start was delayed - much to the endless irritation of those who had picked the slicks to begin with.
"I am very upset, to be honest," Ogura's team boss Davide Brivio declared. “Because that's not the way to manage a start. We took a gamble, we took the right decision. When it was time to start they stopped everything because some riders… the riders who left the grid, they left the grid! They made the wrong choice. Why didn't they allow us to start on the right choice?
"Now everything is gone! Our gamble - we took a risk, we took a gamble, we made the right decision, now everything is... bah!"
A quick start procedure was carried out 10 minutes later, with all riders taking their original grid slots for a race shortened by one lap to 19. (albeit with Vinales then seemingly stalling his bike and having to launch from pitlane after all).
Marquez throws it away
Marquez's very first flying lap was a 2m03s, showing that by this point the track was very ready for slicks - and those who had chosen them originally would've indeed prospered.
He led the pack off the line, establishing a lead of two seconds approaching half-distance - then suddenly crashed on the inside kerb at Turn 4.
"He said sorry to the team," explained Ducati team boss Davide Tardozzi.
"Unfortunately, he cut a bit too much the corner and he touched the apex, and it was a bit wet.”
He rejoined all the way down in 18th but with the bike way too damaged to allow for any sort of bid to salvage points - and eventually parked it in the pits.
Bagnaia capitalises
Bagnaia was already long up to second by the time Marquez crashed to give him the lead.
He had attacked the younger Marquez on the opening lap, both at Turn 11 and Turn 12, but was repassed on corner exit both times. But a Turn 12 move on lap four stuck, and Alex Marquez never looked like challenging him from there, for what ended up being the race win.
Fabio Di Giannantonio picked up his first podium as a VR46 Ducati rider in third, even briefly threatening a late challenge for second, while team-mate Franco Morbidelli made it a VR46 3-4, despite being seven seconds back from Di Giannantonio.
It really should've been a Ducati 1-2-3-4-5, and rookie Fermin Aldeguer should've been fourth for Gresini - but right after overtaking Pramac Yamaha's Jack Miller for fifth with a forceful Turn 1 move Aldeguer crashed while in pursuit of Morbidelli.
Miller held on to fifth, having made hay in the uncertain grip of the opening lap and riding a defensive race from there.
Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia), Bastianini, Luca Marini (Honda), Ogura and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) completed the top 10, despite Quartararo having crashed on his initial reconnaissance lap to the grid.
A race of attrition
There were only 17 classified finishers in the end. One of them, Vinales, went from the pitlane to 14th, while another - Johann Zarco - crashed while on course for a top-10 spot while being overtaken by Bastianini.
There was also another crash for Honda's Joan Mir, who had already fallen in qualifying and in the sprint, and for KTM's Pedro Acosta.
Acosta's team-mate Binder was set to rescue a spectacular fifth for the factory KTM outfit, only to have to retire with a technical issue.
Results
1 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati)
2 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) +2.089s
3 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +3.594s
4 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +10.732s
5 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +11.857s
6 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +12.238s
7 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +12.815s
8 Luca Marini (Honda) +15.646s
9 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +16.344s
10 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +18.255s
11 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +24.256s
12 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +27.938s
13 Augusto Fernandez (Pramac Yamaha) +35.740s
14 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) +42.724s
15 Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) +46.397s
16 Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda) +1m03.601s
17 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) +2 laps
DNF Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati)
DNF Brad Binder (KTM)
DNF Marc Marquez (Ducati)
DNF Joan Mir (Honda)
DNF Pedro Acosta (KTM)
