2025 Spanish MotoGP As It Happened

Alex Marquez leads at the beginning of lap 11. A bit of a block pass, but nothing over the limit. Some fresh air will be welcomed by his front tyre, and now he will look to impose his pace.

Quartararo continuing to lead, Bagnaia still 0.6s behind Marquez.

It's Vinales in fourth, by the way, after Aldeguer's crash, holding Di Giannantonio off. Joan Mir then in sixth on the Honda, ahead of Morbidelli and Binder.

Quartararo really riding excellently here, not making mistakes and really not giving Marquez a chance.

No change at the front. Bagnaia runs wide at turn one. Clearly struggling with the front tyre.

Quartararo continues to lead from Marquez, Bagnaia hanging on in third but he's clearly not as strong as the other two in the four right handers before the final corner.

Crash for Fermin Aldeguer at turn six, just lost the front in the middle of the corner. He's okay.

Quartararo continues to lead but it looks a matter of time for Marquez to make his way through. 

Bagnaia falling back and Aldeguer not too far behind him.

Quartararo continues to lead and Marquez is now up to second past Bagnaia, who looks to already be struggling with front grip.

Marc Marquez has crashed at turn eight. He's back on but there go his victory hopes.

It's still Quartararo who leads, btw, and Bagnaia maintaining second place at the beginning of lap three. Top five with a break over the rest of the field, led by Vinales.

Alex Marquez is back up to fourth place, past Aldeguer.

Bezzecchi runs on at turn one on the Aprilia beginning lap two.

Alex Marquez threads the needle at turn six to just about avoid contact, he's back to sixth as his brother  and Bagnaia engage. They make contact going into turn 12! But Bagnaia stays ahead for now.

It's lights out for the Spanish Grand Prix, and it's Quartararo with the holeshot ahead of Bagnaia, Marquez third.

The riders are off on their warm-up lap in Jerez. 25 laps of one of the best circuits on the calendar to come.

With 27C of air temperature and 46C of track temperature, the start is sure to be crucial as ever here in Jerez. Dropping behind other bikes is sure to cook your front tyre, which will make following those bikes increasingly difficult, in turn making it tough to fashion an overtake.

The race won't be entirely decided by the end of lap two, but the following 23 laps will certainly be heavily conditioned by the events of those opening tours.

If the podium is, bar Quartararo, set to be decided among the Ducatis, what about the rest?

Well, yesterday the battle for 'best of the rest' was won by Maverick Vinales on the Tech3 KTM, but Marco Bezzecchi was strong on the factory Aprilia as well in eighth. Joan Mir was able to put Honda in the top-10 as well, ahead of both factory KTM riders: Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder.

10 minutes to go until the start in Jerez and we're hearing the Spanish national anthem for probably not the final time today.

Even if Marquez is the favourite, it doesn't mean there aren't other contenders. There has also been strong pace from Alex Marquez this weekend, and from Pecco Bagnaia who has won each of the last three GPs in Jerez.

The other Ducatis were strong in yesterday's Sprint, too, and Franco Morbidelli, Fermin Aldeguer, and Fabio Di Giannantonio shouldn't be discounted from podium contention either.

It is, though, more or less an argument among the Desmosedicis for the rostrum positions today, with the exception of Quartararo who, if he makes a good start, could be able to take advantage of the 'dirty air' effect around here to defend from some of the rivals behind.

If Ducati is the favourite among the manufacturers, Marc Marquez is the favourite among its riders to take victory today.

It would be a fourth from five races this year for Marquez, who hasn't yet finished a race lower than first place - the only race he hasn't won, of course, was the Grand Prix of the Americas where he crashed from the lead.

Although it's Yamaha and Quartararo on pole, it's still Ducati who are the favourites to win today, not least thanks to its domination of yesterday's Sprint in which it locked out the top-six.

A win today for the Italian brand would see Ducati equal Honda's record of 22 consecutive premier class Grand Prix victories.

For the first time this year, it's not Marc Marquez on pole position for a MotoGP race thanks to Fabio Quartararo's performance in Q2 yesterday.

Quartararo probably has potential for the podium today on the Yamaha, but the start will be crucial for him.

The pit lane is open in Jerez and the riders are off on their sighting lap to the grid.

Welcome to live coverage of today's MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, the race is just under 30 minutes away with the start time set for 14:00 local time.