What happened in MotoGP's first 2025 test

Gresini Ducati rider Alex Marquez led the way in MotoGP's post-season test at Barcelona, as his brother Marc made his debut with the works Ducati team.

The elder Marquez finished the day in fourth, six and a half tenths of a second off first place, riding an all-red GP25 and wearing an all-red racing suit with minimal branding. Pulling into the pits after a late charge up the timing screens, he jokingly gave the middle finger to his former Gresini team manager Michele Masini stood in pitlane.

Test results
1 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) 1m38.803s
2 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) 1m39.199s
3 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) 1m39.398s
4 Marc Marquez (Ducati) 1m39.454s
5 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) 1m39.471s
6 Brad Binder (KTM) 1m39.508s
7 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) 1m39.565s
8 Alex Rins (Yamaha) 1m39.568s
9 Pedro Acosta (KTM) 1m39.571s
10 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) 1m39.616s
11 Jorge Martin (Aprilia) 1m39.859s
12 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) 1m39.887s
13 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) 1m39.995s
14 Aleix Espargaro (Honda) 1m40.007s
15 Joan Mir (Honda) 1m40.070s
16 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) 1m40.082s
17 Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha) 1m40.138s
18 Luca Marini (Honda) 1m40.232s
19 Michele Pirro (VR46 Ducati) 1m40.486s
20 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) 1m40.654s
21 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) 1m40.946s
22 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) 1m41.025s
23 Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda) 1m41.295s
24 Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) 1m47.596s

His new team boss Davide Tardozzi said Marquez had found the 2025 Ducati "much easier to ride" compared to the 2023 bike he'd campaigned this season.

Newly-crowned MotoGP champion Jorge Martin sampled the 2024 Aprilia and its 2025 prototype during the day.

He quickly improved the time he'd set on the '24 bike with the 2025 RS-GP, then crashed it at Turn 5, then returned to the track with different-painted bodywork to finish a respectable 11th.

His new team-mate Marco Bezzecchi, having made the move from VR46 Ducati, was just over a tenth off.

Alex Marquez's table-topping 1m38.803s - the only 1m38s recorded during the day - was just a tenth and a half off Pecco Bagnaia's pole on Sunday. It likely reflected the younger Marquez (who had a crash at Turn 7 during the day) being able to simply focus on performance rather than any parts development as a satellite Ducati rider who will race a hand-me-down GP24 next year.

VR46 Ducati rider Franco Morbidelli was another with a hand-me-down GP24 - in his case, his own GP24 that he ran at Pramac - and placed seventh.

Slotting in between them were Fabio Quartararo on the Yamaha, Pecco Bagnaia on the Ducati (his 2025 Desmosedici prototype adorned in a striking white livery, pictured below), the elder Marquez, Raul Fernandez on the Trackhouse Aprilia and Brad Binder on the KTM.

Binder and new KTM team-mate Pedro Acosta sampled a variety of different-coloured fairings, including a particularly striking stripped-down version painted in black.

Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) was quickest of MotoGP's three 2025 rookies, by four tenths over Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) and seven tenths over Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda). All three had their first MotoGP crashes during the day, but none were major crashes, while Aldeguer also broke his bike’s screen with his helmet during a messy practice start at the end of the session.

The day's big fall came from new Tech3 KTM signing Enea Bastianini, who shrugged off what looked like a typical cold-tyre crash but one that did substantial damage to his bike.

His new team-mate Maverick Vinales looked to have a tidy KTM debut, ending up two tenths ahead and having spent much of the day in the top 10, while Pramac Yamaha's Miguel Oliveira was another rider to make a solid impression on his first day with a new bike.

But Honda's new tester Aleix Espargaro was perhaps the most impressive in terms of adaptation, running similar pace to the established Honda riders virtually from the get go.