2025 Valencia MotoGP Practice Results – Friday
November 14, 2025
Alex Marquez added more flavour to his championship runner-up spot after taking a dominant Malaysian MotoGP victory on Sunday as Francesco Bagnaia retired from third due to a rare tyre issue.
The race, held on Sunday, was the 20th round of the season and featured a full grid of 20 riders battling through tropical heat and challenging track conditions that tested the limits of rider skill and tyre management.
From the outset, the race began with pole sitter and Saturday’s Sepang Sprint winner Francesco Bagnaia swiftly taking the holeshot as the lights went out.
Bagnaia emerged as the early pace-setter but his choice of a medium front tyre initially held him back slightly compared to fellow riders on softer rubber, including Alex Marquez.
At the start, Alex briefly lost a position to KTM’s Pedro Acosta but aggressively reclaimed it almost immediately at Turn 4, setting his sights on the leader.
The first two laps saw an intense battle for supremacy, with the younger Marquez making a decisive move on Bagnaia at the same Turn 4 on Lap 2, taking over the lead in front of a hugely ecstatic Sepang crowd.
From that point, the Gresini star rider began to control the race pace, carefully managing his tyres and holding off challenges from the chasing pack.
Meanwhile, Acosta did not capitulate easily; on Lap 3 he attempted to pressure Bagnaia for second place, pushing the Ducati rider hard around the track’s heavy braking zones.
However, Bagnaia responded aggressively at the Turn 5 left-hander, maintaining his position with a bold defensive maneuver.
Behind the lead trio was Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, followed by Honda’s Joan Mir who overcame Gresini rookie Fermin Aldeguer down the front straight to snatch fifth spot.
Mir soon caught to the back of Quartararo’s Yamaha on Lap 6 and made his first overtake attempt at Turn 15 on Lap 6, but the Spaniard ran too fast into the corner which enabled the M1 to reclaim fourth.
Mir ultimately overtook Quartararo into Turn 4 at the midway point with the Honda rider setting his sights on the leading trio.
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Meanwhile, Bagnaia maintained strong pace for much of the race, initially holding second place behind Marquez but Acosta managed to overtake the factory Ducati on Lap 13 at Turn 11.
Relegated to third, Bagnaia still remained competitive, matching the pace of the leaders, but on lap 18 his performance suddenly deteriorated with evident handling issues.
TV footage captured Bagnaia glancing backward at his GP25 bike as something felt wrong, before he eventually made his way back into the pit lane, forced to retire from a potential podium finish.
At the front, Alex Marquez seized the opportunity and controlled the remaining laps expertly. Free from championship pressure after securing second in the standings the previous day, the Gresini rider was able to build a solid 2.6-second gap and ultimately claim Malaysian MotoGP victory.
Pedro Acosta followed in second while Joan Mir rounded out the podium, benefiting from Francesco Bagnaia retirement.
Franco Morbidelli finished a respectable fourth with VR46 Ducati teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio close behind in sixth after maintaining consistent lap times in the latter half of the race, the pair split by Fabio Quartararo.
KTM Tech3’s Enea Bastianini finished seventh, while Honda’s Luca Marini, factory KTM’s Brad Binder and Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura rounding out the top ten.
Several riders faced mechanical troubles or crashes including Australian MotoGP race winner Raul Fernandez who crashed out at Turn 1 on Lap 12 while running 14th, underlining Aprilia’s ongoing struggles.
Miguel Oliveira followed suit along with Fermin Aldeguer who crashed out of the race at Turn 15.
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