Sun 2 Mar 2025 04.15 EST

Last modified on Sun 2 Mar 2025 09.05 EST

Marc Márquez continued his perfect start to life with factory Ducati as the six-time  champion completed a weekend double at the season-opening Thailand Grand Prix on Sunday, finishing ahead of his younger brother, Alex Márquez.

Marc Márquez, who won the sprint race on Saturday, got off to an electric start on pole in hot and humid conditions at the Buriram International Circuit but Alex, who had qualified second on the grid, managed to break free to take the lead in the seventh lap of the 26-lap race.

With three laps to go, Marc snatched back the lead to win the opening race of the MotoGP season for the first time since 2014. Francesco Bagnaia, a double MotoGP champion and Marc Márquez’s new teammate, came in third to complete an all-Ducati podium.

“Yesterday, I was happy. Today, I’m super happy,” Márquez said. “I mean, this is a dream! It’s a dream start my new journey with Ducati like this in Thailand where I won my last four championships, to be here with my brother — incredible.”



Márquez had looked dominant all weekend and it seemed only a matter of time that he would overtake Alex, who is four years his junior, as he finished 1.732 seconds ahead. The 32-year-old Spaniard extended his lead at the top of the MotoGP world championship with 37 points, eight more than second-placed Alex and 14 ahead of Italian Bagnaia. Márquez now has 112 MotoGP podiums, equalling compatriot Dani Pedrosa.

Alex Márquez said of his brother: “I thought he was trying not to use a lot of rear tyre. I was using everything, I was using all the energy because when you don’t have it, literally, you need to push a bit more, and you cannot really save tyre. But in the end second was our maximum target today. So, to keep Pecco  behind it’s not easy, he’s a world champion, and you have another experience.”

Bagnaia, who lost last year’s championship to the now injured Jorge Martín by 10 points, battled with Alex for second. “I gave my all and I could not be too close to Alex to try and attend. Marc was playing with us all the way. So, my maximum ambition was to finish in P2 but we finished in P3,” Bagnaia said. “I tried my best, but I was slower and I was losing more time in some part of the track.”

Franco Morbidelli made up two places to finish fourth, while Trackhouse’s Japanese rookie Ai Ogura continued his remarkable start to MotoGP as he came fifth.

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