2025 British MotoGP: Alex Marquez ends Marc Marquez sprint domination
Alex Marquez beats Marc Marquez in Silverstone MotoGP sprint
Gresini Ducati MotoGP rider Alex Marquez ended Marc Marquez’s domination of sprints in 2025 with victory in the half-distance race at the British Grand Prix.
A previous sprint winner at the British Grand Prix, Alex Marquez absorbed huge early pressure from his older brother after taking the lead on lap two of 10 before darting away 3.511 seconds to the chequered flag.
It marks Alex Marquez’s first sprint win of the 2025 season and ends Marc Marquez’s run of six consecutive Saturday victories.
The Gresini rider has also reduced Marc Marquez’s championship lead to 19 points, while Pecco Bagnaia has slid 56 points behind after fading to sixth at the chequered flag.
Marc Marquez was a distant second in the end, while Fabio Di Giannantonio completed the podium for VR46 Ducati in third.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo converted his third successive pole of the season to the holeshot off the line at a cool and cloudy Silverstone on Saturday afternoon.
Behind him, the Marquez brothers exchanged places, with Marc Marquez - who started fourth - getting the upper hand and taking the lead from Quartararo into Stowe.
His time heading the field was brief, however, as he ran wide into Village corner on the second tour and allowed Alex Marquez - who passed Quartararo seconds earlier - into the lead.
The pair ran line astern for the next seven laps, with Alex Marquez keeping himself out of reach as his GP24 proved better on traction compared to Marc Marquez’s factory GP25.
At the start of lap nine, Alex Marquez’s lead was up to almost half a second, before his elder brother gave up the chase and dropped 3.511s behind to a safe second at the chequered flag.
Fabio Di Giannantonio came from seventh on the grid and worked his way past Pecco Bagnaia for third on the eighth tour.
He ended the sprint almost sixth tenths clear of Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi, who stormed from outside of the top 10 to snatch fourth on the final lap.
Johann Zarco completed the top five on his LCR Honda after a last-lap overtake on Bagnaia, who rapidly faded out of podium contention in the latter stages.
Poleman Quartararo was seventh for Yamaha ahead of KTM’s Pedro Acosta and Pramac Yamaha’s Jack Miller.
KTM’s Brad Binder was the only retirement from the sprint, after crashing on lap two. He was one of two riders to run the medium front tyre.
Trackhouse Racing’s Ai Ogura was a non-starter after suffering a suspected tibia fracture in an FP1 crash on Friday.
