2025 Dutch MotoGP: Marc Marquez wins sprint after starting fourth
Marc Marquez wins ninth sprint of 2025
Ducati’s Marc Marquez has extended his MotoGP championship lead after rising from fourth to first in the Dutch Grand Prix sprint ahead of Gresini’s Alex Marquez.
Qualifying off the front row for just the second time this season, Marc Marquez almost led into Turn 1 at the start after getting the best jump on his rivals.
It would take him until the end of the first lap to finally take the lead from polesitter Fabio Quartararo, with Alex Marquez soon following through to give chase on his older brother.
The Marquez brothers ran line astern for almost the entirety of the 13-lap sprint, but Marc Marquez was able to keep enough or a buffer to repel any attempt at an attack from Alex Marquez.
Marc Marquez got to the chequered flag 0.351s clear of Alex Marquez to score his ninth sprint win of the season.
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi completed the podium for his first sprint rostrum since the 2023 Indonesian Grand Prix weekend.
Marc Marquez’s championship lead is now up to 43 points over Alex Marquez going into Sunday’s grand prix, while Pecco Bagnaia is 117 points in arrears after dropping to fifth from second on the grid.
Off the line, Fabio Quartararo fended off a rapid start from Marc Marquez to hold the lead through Turn 1 and head the Ducati rider through most of the first lap.
But the speed of Marc Marquez proved too much for the Yamaha rider to contain, with the Ducati coming through at Turn 16 at the end of lap one.
Behind, Alex Marquez took third from Pecco Bagnaia into Turn 8 before copying his brother’s move on Quartararo into Turn 1 on lap two.
Alex Marquez was visibly faster than Marc Marquez through the fast right-handers at the back of the Assen circuit, but could do nothing to force an overtaking attempt on the factory Ducati.
Both pushed each other hard, however, with both riders receiving track limits warnings in the closing stages.
Ultimately, Marc Marquez was able to hold onto the lead through to the chequered flag to score his third successive sprint win.
Aprilia’s Bezzecchi moved into the podium places ahead of Quartararo at Turn 16 on lap two and at one stage pressured the Marquez brothers.
But he faded from this battle in the closing stages and was 0.896s back in third at the chequered flag.
Quartararo’s race ended on lap 10 of 13 when he fell going through Turn 10. He had been running fourth at the time and fending off VR46 Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio.
The latter inherited fourth as a result, while Bagnaia faded to fifth ahead of Tech3 KTM rider Maverick Vinales.
Gresini rookie Fermin Aldeguer was forced to serve a long lap penalty for exceeding track limits, but the same punishment for KTM’s Pedro Acosta would give seventh back to the former.
Acosta didn’t have enough time to serve his penalty, so was docked three seconds after the chequered flag. This dropped him from seventh to ninth, with Franco Morbidelli promoted to eighth for VR46.
Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) retired at the end of the first lap following an apparent collision with Morbidelli at Turn 5, while Honda’s Joan Mir fell at Turn 2.
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