Marc Marquez continued his Saturday afternoon dominance in 2025 with another MotoGP Sprint victory as the sport returned to Brno.
The Spaniard dropped behind eventual second place KTM’s Pedro Acosta, avoiding a tyre pressure penalty before taking the win.
Pole man Bagnaia made an impressive start to take the holeshot from Turn 1 and team-mate Marquez sliced his way through at Turn 3.
The factory Ducati duo led the field but Gresini’s Alex Marquez and Honda’s Joan Mir dropped to the back of the field.
KTM rider Acosta rose from the third row of the grid to fourth by the end of Lap 1, before overtaking Yamaha’s Quartararo for third.
Augusto Fernandez and Takaaki Nakagami had a coming together at Turn 3, though nothing malicious from either rider.
Out front the factory Ducati duo rode off to the distance and championship leader Marquez formed a half second advantage.
The exciting battle occurred behind the Bologna machine between Acosta, Quartararo and Tech3 KTM rider Enea Bastianini.
The Italian displayed impressive pace, especially considering his struggles to adapt to the RC16 after moving to the bike at the start of the year. He climbed to fourth place after overtaking Quartararo in the final corner of Lap 4.
However, at the front at the halfway mark, Bagnaia looked behind him to see the distance between himself and riders behind. Bizarrely, he sat back behind Acosta, but lost further ground as Bastianini and Quartararo made surprise overtakes throughout Lap 5.
This led to Marquez to hold a 3s advantage over the field, but the next lap he copied the same move from Bagnaia. The Spaniard dropped to second as Acosta took the lead, likely due to fears of tyre pressure penalties, which could also explain the Ducati riders’ decisions.
Marquez tucked in behind Acosta until his dash indicated he was no longer at risk of a tyre pressure penalty, then the race winning move was made on the penultimate lap.
The Spaniard was accompanied by KTM riders Pedro Acosta and Enea Bastianini, with the latter securing his first podium with the Austrian marque.
Marco Bezzecchi posted fourth for Aprilia to continue his impressive recent form, finishing a second clear of Quartararo.
Raul Fernandez claimed an impressive sixth for Trackhouse after the Spaniard made a last lap move on Bagnaia.
Johann Zarco finished as the lead Honda rider in eighth, closely followed by the KTM duo of Pol Espargaro and Brad Binder.
Jorge Martin posted an 11th place finish on his MotoGP return, who fended off a late challenge from Pramac Yamaha duo Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira.
Fermin Aldeguer finished down in 14th as Honda rider Luca Marini and Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura successfully defeated Alex Marquez.
Alex Rins and Mir were the final two finishers after VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannatonio retired at the halfway stage.
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