Álex Márquez (Ducati) leads a test of surprises and falls in Barcelona

Champion Jorge Martín debuts in Aprilia with his ’89’ and 1 second slower than the head

Marc Márquez is 56 thousandths behind ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia in his ‘everything red’

The Spanish rider Álex Márquez (Ducati) has recorded the best time this Tuesday in the official MotoGP test day at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with a 1:38.803 with the new Ducati that the Gresini will use in the 2025 campaign, in a day full of surprises, news and also falls and disappointments that kicks off the 2025 MotoGP Championship.

The fastest was Álex Márquez, with a time that would have been the fourth fastest in Q2 of the recent Solidarity Grand Prix on this same track. It was not a day to look for some amazingly fast laps but to find sensations with the new specifications and, for those who have changed teams, adapt to the new frames and structures.

And the current world champion, the Spanish Jorge Martín, is undoubtedly the turncoat rider with the most media spotlights on him, leaving Ducati’s Prima Pramac – the team will now have Yamaha engines – to debut with the ‘Martinator’ suit. and the usual ’89’ with the official Aprilia, to set the eleventh best time, 1.056 seconds behind Álex Márquez. And the champion went to the limit, grazing an asphalt that he also tested in a fall without consequences.

Another focus was in the Ducati Lenovo Team box. Now, with Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia as a new contender to recover the title and with Marc Márquez as a new partner, on the other side of the wall. And the one from Cervera, third with a Ducati 23 in the Gresini in 2024, will try to be the worst enemy of his ‘boss’. For now, dressed all in red, the Catalan was just 56 thousandths worse than ‘Pecco’, with the Italian third and the ’93’, fourth, with the feeling of not pushing the new Ducati Desmosedici GP25 to the limit.

Second in this typical day of changes, based on trials and errors, was the Frenchman Fabio Quartararo with his official Yamaha, hoping that 2025 will be the year of the return of the ‘tuning fork’ motorcycles to the head. And in fifth position was the best Aprilia, that of the Spanish Raúl Fernández (Trackhouse), ahead of the South African Brad Binder (KTM), the best of the Austrian firm.

Next to Binder will be, now as a 100% official KTM rider, Pedro Acosta who had a great debut campaign with the GasGas ‘satellite’ and who in this post-season test was ninth, behind Álex Rins (Yamaha) which, eighth, also stood out with these improvements on the Monster Energy Yamaha.

With falls by Álex Márquez, Jorge Martín, Enea Bastianini and Luca Marini, the day served to see the debut of the three ‘rookies’ such as the Moto2 world champion, the Japanese Ai Ogura – in Trackhouse Racing -, the Spanish Fermín Aldeguer in Gresini Racing to accompany Álex Márquez and the Thai Somkiat Chantra, who will debut with the LCR Honda.

At Honda, precisely, they are not there to rave about. The former world champion with Suzuki, the Spanish Joan Mir, was fifteenth and just behind Aleix Espargaró, who has already retired as an official driver and is a new Honda test rider. So the former Aprilia ‘Capitano’ was, in his first contact with the Honda, somewhat faster than the official riders, who were visibly upset – especially Mir – for not having improved in this test.