If the past two seasons have taught us anything, it is that, with the right equipment, the independent team in MotoGP can rise up to shake up the established order, which is something we haven’t seen for a long time. Last year, Jorge Martin won the title on the Pramac Ducati and, if this year, Marc Marquez and the factory Ducati took title honours, then Gresini proved itself to be a strong second best by taking second in the championship with Alex Marquez (three GP wins and second in the first ten Sprint races with one victory), the Independent Team Award and Rookie of the Year for Fermin Aldeguer (one GP victory). And this was fielding GP24 Ducatis, don’t forget. That’s not an insignificant achievement by any standards.
Proceedings in Malaysia were somewhat placed in the shadows by the awful accident during the sighting lap for the Moto3 race, where Jose Antonio Rueda ran at speed into the rear of slow-riding Noah Dettwiler, sending them both flying and, ultimately, to hospital; Rueda with a fractured wrist and concussion and Dettwiler with unspecified injuries that nevertheless necessitated multiple surgeries, after which his team said he was still critical but stable.
Some MotoGP riders were critical of Dorna for subsequently allowing the Moto3 race to proceed after a long delay, suggesting that it was irresponsible to let such young riders continue in the face of a serious accident, the outcome of which no one was aware.
Bagnaia was particularly vocal: “Let’s just say that starting the day like this isn’t the best way. Especially thinking that some Moto3 kids have to start a 10-lap sprint race, after seeing an accident like that, it isn’t the best situation in my opinion. Let’s hope everything is fine.”
Marco Bezzecchi was similarly outspoken, particularly about the lack of information about the crash: “It was really hard for me to concentrate,” he said. “It’s very hard to get on the bike after what happened in Moto3. It’s not fair that we get on the bike without any information about what happened. “We saw helicopters take off with two riders. We deserved some information.”
Some pointed to the loss of warm-up sessions for Moto3 and Moto2 at the beginning of the season, to make way for a MotoGP rider parade, as the problem. This removed the last chance of testing what could easily be completely rebuilt bikes after the practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday, and it’s clear that losing those ten minutes of pre-race track time was not a good idea. The possibility that Dettwiler was having technical issues with his bike on the sighting lap, leading to his slow speed, is a direct consequence of this. It could easily have happened at the start of the race itself, with a hard-accelerating pack jostling for position into the first corner. The consequences of that don’t bear thinking about. Of course, a technical issue can happen at any time, but a ten-minute warm-up session would go a long way to mitigating against this happening on a crowded track at the beginning of a race, or even a sighting or warm-up lap.
What is certain is that pre-race procedures will have to be reviewed to prevent a repeat of this, either by mandating a minimum lap time for sighting laps or forcing riders to follow the pace car to the grid.
In Malaysia, Pecco Bagnaia’s unfathomably yo-yo season continued, and both he and Ducati are certainly unable to account for the Malaysia weekend, with pole position and Sprint race victory and a Main race podium only thwarted by a rear puncture, all this after three DNFs following his domination in Japan. I mean, you can’t deny that it’s given us all something to talk about, but I suspect that Bagnaia would rather wish the conversation were revolving around his success rather than his inability to bend the GP25 to his will.
Malaysia also threw up some similarly unexpected results, in the form of a second podium in four races for Joan Mir on the factory Honda. After the race, Mir said that he always had faith in the Honda team to turn things around, but how must his patience have been tested over the past three years? A team such as Honda doesn’t forget how to win, but it is surprising how long it is taking them to return to the top step of the podium, and Mir and Marini have to be commended for maintaining their dignified silence in the face of awful results and many crashes. Are we witnessing the beginning of a turnaround for Honda?
Similarly, Pedro Acosta’s misgivings about KTM have been largely silenced in recent weeks by KTM’s (or is it Acosta’s?) progress, the young Spaniard scoring three GP second places, a GP third place and five Sprint race podiums since the Czech GP in July. His progress is all the more marked when you consider the lack of progress his teammate and the satellite KTM riders have been able to make on the same package. Has KTM been concentrating on Acosta, given their desire to keep him in the fold for 2027 and beyond, or is it really a case of he’s simply making a better fist of adapting to the recalcitrant RC16?
But none of this should detract from Alex Marquez’s achievement, both throughout the season and this particular weekend. It was a weekend of tyre management and Marquez did everything he had to do to take victory in the Main race, his third GP victory of the season. For two brothers to take first and second in the championship is unprecedented throughout the history of the sport and just shows not only the strengths of both riders but also the strengths of the Ducati, whether this year’s model or last year’s.
Given Bagnaia’s woes with the GP25, will the satellite teams in 2026 be overly keen to adopt them over the GP24s they have enjoyed success with this year? Yes, Marc Marquez won the title on a GP25, but he’s Marc Marquez, and what he wins on has traditionally been notably difficult for other riders to ride, let alone win on.
Two races to go, and while there will be no Marc, no one can say that there won’t be anything interesting happening on track.
