2025 Valencia MotoGP Practice Results – Friday
November 14, 2025
Marco Bezzecchi overcame seagull damage to lead a historic first-ever Aprilia 1-2 to Australian MotoGP Sprint victory.
Bezzecchi overcame a striking encounter with a seagull on the warm-up lap and demonstrated relentless pace to hunt down and overtake his stablemate Raul Fernandez, ultimately claiming victory at Phillip Island by a commanding margin of 3.149 seconds.
The race start was remarkable, with Alex Marquez who started sixth on the grid, making an impressive holeshot that propelled him to the front by the first corner, pushing pole-sitter Fabio Quartararo down the order.
However, Fernandez who started from the second row executed a superb launch to snatch the lead from Marquez at Miller Corner and dictated much of the early pace.
Bezzecchi made his start with the bird’s body lodged in his aero fairing which saw him drop down to third and almost clipped the rear of Fernandez at the fast right-hander Lukey Heights.
Nonetheless, the Italian rider held onto third until Marquez lost momentum and fell behind which set up an intense intra-team battle for the win between Bezzecchi and Fernandez.
From laps six to nine, Bezzecchi displayed aggressive determination to catch the race leader but he temporarily lost time after a mistake at Turn 10 on lap seven, where he ran wide and dropped nearly a second behind Fernandez.
Nevertheless, the factory Aprilia star regained composure swiftly, cutting the deficit significantly by the next lap, and ultimately powered to an overtaking move on lap 10.
Once in front, Marco Bezzecchi controlled the race tempo and gradually distanced himself from the Trackhouse Aprilia RS-GP, ultimately sealing his third sprint win in four weekends.
Full 2025 Australian MotoGP Sprint Race Results
Quartararo beats Bezzecchi to Australian MotoGP pole with new lap record
Raul Fernandez had to contend with missing out on Australian MotoGP Sprint victory by over three seconds but his second place finish marked the first-ever Aprilia 1-2, confirming the strength of the RS-GP package at Phillip Island.
Behind the Aprilia duo, the battle for the final podium spot turned fiercely competitive as Pedro Acosta, aboard the Red Bull KTM RC16, managed to narrowly fend off home favorite Jack Miller riding the Pramac Yamaha YZR-M1.
Fabio Di Giannantonio impressively claimed fifth place as the top Ducati rider after holding off Gresini’s Alex Marquez and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo who finished sixth and seventh, respectively, the latter working his way back from a poor start.
Luca Marini marked the leading Honda in eighth, just ahead of Red Bull KTM Tech3 pair Pol Espargaro and Enea Bastianini who rounded out the top ten.
Notably, Honda’s Joan Mir and Johann Zarco delivered solid rides to finish 11th and 12th respectively, followed by Alex Rins, Miguel Oliveira and Franco Morbidelli.
Lorenzo Savadori on the Aprilia Factory team finished 16th, closely followed by Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura and Thai rider Somkiat Chantra on the Idemitsu Honda LCR, both classified just outside the points positions.
Ogura who returned after injury woes was later handed an eight-second tyre pressure penalty that impacted his final standing.
One of the surprise elements of the sprint race was the continued struggles faced by Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia who endured a disastrous outing, finishing 19th and over 32 seconds behind Bezzecchi.
The performance was Bagnaia’s new low point this season, marked by laps consistently four seconds off the pace and visible frustration in the pits. He was ahead only of Ducati test rider Michele Pirro in 20th, who was filling in for injured teammate Marc Marquez.
Meanwhile, BK8 Gresini Ducati’s rookie Fermin Aldeguer and Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder failed to finish due to crashes or mechanical issues, underscoring the challenging conditions and fierce competition.
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