Bizarre nine-year Marc Marquez hoodoo tipped to finally end

MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez has been tipped to end a nine-year wait for a maiden victory at the Red Bull Ring this weekend.

The factory Ducati rider comes into the Austrian Grand Prix leading the championship by 120 points, having amassed eight wins and 11 sprint victories from the opening 12 rounds.

Well on his way to a seventh premier class title, MotoGP 2025’s resumption at the Red Bull Ring poses a hurdle Marc Marquez has so far been unable to surmount since the Austrian Grand Prix returned to the calendar in 2016.

Red Bull Ring is one of four circuits on the current calendar that Marquez hasn’t won at in his grand prix career.

He came close in 2017, 2018 and 2019 in last-lap battles with former Ducati riders Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo. But second remains his best.

Already in 2025 Marquez has ended lengthy win droughts, most notably in Qatar.

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On the latest Crash MotoGP Podcast, host Jordan Moreland believes Pecco Bagnaia will offer Marquez a stiff challenge this weekend having won the last three Red Bull Ring races.

“It’s a circuit that has plenty of character and it’s one that Marc Marquez will want to be ticking off his list, because when you look at his previous results he’s never won here and he’s come close so many times before,” he said.

“But now he’s on the bike that beat him so many times through those years, it looks like a weekend that is set up nicely.

“But he does have a challenge from Pecco Bagnaia, because I will say Pecco absolutely loves and he’s won the last three editions of.”

Marc Marquez tipped to end nine-year wait

However, Crash Senior Journalist Lewis Duncan doesn’t see Bagnaia being able to replicate his past Austrian Grand Prix form and expects Marquez to continue his run of five successive Sunday wins.

“It’s an interesting one,” he added.

“We’ve had a few of these circuits already where Marc in the past hasn’t won at or hasn’t won at for a very long time, and has kind of rewritten the script there.

“So, I think there will be a lot of keen eyes on what will happen at the Red Bull Ring.

“Based on current form, based on the current performance of the bike, it’s really hard to look past Marc winning again.

“I think we’re kind of beyond the point now of hoping Pecco Bagnaia’s going to challenge because I just don’t think he will.

“Even he after Brno has considered that to be a bridge too far. He knows that his rival now is Alex Marquez and trying to think about beating Marc just isn’t feasible.

“Marc has gone well at this circuit. All of the last-lap defeats have kind of muddied the fact that he’s been there generally on Honda machinery that typically struggled at low-gear acceleration circuits.

“And he was pretty quick here last year on the GP23. It’s not as if his best result have been seventh or ninth.

“He’s been inches away from winning here before. If you consider this bike is suited to the circuit and Marc’s past form here, I think a repeat of that will be unlikely. I think we’ll see a fairly controlled race.”