2025 Hungarian MotoGP: Marc Marquez dominates Balaton sprint

Runaway MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez dominated the Hungarian Grand Prix sprint ahead of VR46 duo Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli.

Unbeaten on a Saturday at all but one event so far in 2025, the factory Ducati rider carried that form on at the Hungarian Grand Prix as he cruised from pole to a 13th sprint victory of the season.

Lucky to avoid a Turn 1 tangle instigated by Fabio Quartararo, Marc Marquez was never bothered in the lead as he instantly pulled a gap over the pack of 0.8s.

That lead would continue to swell, getting above 2.5s at one point, and standing at 2.095s over Fabio Di Giannantonio at the chequered flag.

The only trouble he faced during the 13-lap sprint was a track limits warning on the eighth tour, though it amounted to nothing.

With Alex Marquez only eighth from 11th on the grid, Marc Marquez’s championship lead has grown to 152 points.

Chaos erupted off the line when a late-braking Fabio Quartararo on the factory Yamaha tried to carve his way up the inside of the riders ahead of him from sixth on the grid into Turn 1.

But he came in way too hot and made contact with Tech3 KTM’s Enea Bastianini, while also forcing Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi to check up and narrowly avoiding running into the rear of Marc Marquez.

Marquez led VR46 Ducati’s Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Di Giannantonio, though the latter would snatch second on the outside of Turn 6 on the opening lap.

That proved to be the only overtake for the podium places, as the leading trio would not change through to the chequered flag.

Di Giannantonio kept Marquez’s lead under a second for a handful of laps, but he was not able to mount any serious challenge.

At the start of lap eight, Marquez was over two seconds clear and would remain so to the finish.

Di Giannantonio was 1.5s clear of his team-mate Morbidelli, who came under fire at one point from the Honda of Luca Marini behind.

But Marini would ultimately finish 1.295s behind, with Gresini Ducati’s Fermin Aldeguer fifth.

Joan Mir held off Bezzecchi on the other factory Honda for sixth, while Alex Marquez was eighth and reigning champion Jorge Martin (Aprilia) fought through from 17th to to score a point in ninth.

Pecco Bagnaia started the sprint with a radical new set-up on his factory Ducati, but it did little to transform his situation as he struggled to 13th from 15th on the grid.

Pedro Acosta’s Saturday went from bad to worse following his poor qualifying run to seventh, as he crashed fighting with Martin for 10th.

He rejoined but was 17th ahead of KTM team-mate Brad Binder, who had to pit for a new front fairing because of damage on the opening lap.

Enea Bastianini ran into the back of LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco at Turn 12 on the opening lap, taking both out on the spot.

Both the Quartararo and the Bastianini/Zarco incident will be investigated by the FIM stewards.

Full 2025 MotoGP Hungarian Grand Prix sprint results