The Race MotoGP Podcast

The 2025 MotoGP season effectively began two days after 2024 finished, with everyone back on track for the Barcelona test - and 12 riders having their first tastes of life at new teams.

World champion Jorge Martin's Aprilia debut and Marc Marquez's first day as a works Ducati rider headlined those debuts, and The Race MotoGP Podcast kept Simon Patterson and Val Khorounzhiy at Barcelona just a little longer so they could join Matt Beer and Megan White to discuss how everyone got on with their headstarts on 2025.

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Despite Simon Patterson's years of predictions on The Race MotoGP Podcast that satellite riders can't win championships, Jorge Martin has done just that.

So Simon - wearing his 'Satellite riders can win championships' T-shirt from The Race shop - joins Val Khorounzhiy, Megan White and Matt Beer on the season finale episode to discuss how it happened, if it's repeatable, the role Pecco Bagnaia's mistakes played in it and much more.

And we also reveal a very special new MotoGP series coming to The Race Members' Club in 2025.

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Is a satellite rider about to win the MotoGP world championship (and prove The Race MotoGP Podcast's Simon Patterson very wrong)?

It's advantage Jorge Martin heading into the Barcelona finale, but after a(nother) season of mad swings between Pramac Ducati rider Martin and factory rival Pecco Bagnaia can the decider really be that simple?

At The Race Members' Club's request, we've created special championship finale 'Satellite riders can/can't win championships' T-shirts - click the links to buy them!

Does Simon still predict a factory world champion? Find out in the season finale preview podcast as he, Val Khorounzhiy, Megan White and Matt Beer make their predictions for that and some other key fights in their wake.

And our panel also attempts to summarise how we'll remember the massive 13 team/rider or team/factory partnerships that are about to end.

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MotoGP title rivals Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia treated us to some of the most extraordinary wheel to wheel racing of the 2024 season in the Malaysian Grand Prix, but even Bagnaia coming out on top didn't change the fact that it's Martin who is now on the cusp of being champion.

The rivals' approaches to this enthralling GP opening laps at Sepang and the Bagnaia sprint error that maybe rendered them irrelevant in the big picture are delved into by Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer in the Malaysia episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast, with plenty of questions from The Race Members' Club about what was going through Bagnaia and Martin's minds.

The whole weekend took place under the shadow of the tragic events in Valencia, home to many in the MotoGP world and where the series should have been heading for its finale in a fortnight. As Simon recounts, the floods and destruction in Spain made for a sombre atmosphere in the Sepang paddock - click here to donate to Valencian team Aspar's fundraiser for the relief effort.

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The 2024 MotoGP title fight packed so many more twists into the Thai Grand Prix weekend even though it ended with Pecco Bagnaia only three points closer to Jorge Martin than he had been before Buriram.

But the crashes, near-crashes, Marc Marquez interventions, lunges, attempts to stoke Bagnaia/Martin animosity, track limits mysteries and non-penalties all add up to plenty for Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer to debate on The Race MotoGP Podcast and plenty of questions that The Race Members' Club want answered.

The stewards' handling of Franco Morbidelli's latest piece of wayward riding, Marquez's drama-filled grand prix, a frightening and bizarre Moto2 practice pitlane incident, Pedro Acosta's return to the podium (at Jack Miller's expense) and Andrea Iannone's likely return to MotoGP all feature too.

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Jorge Martin has 20 points in hand over MotoGP title rival Pecco Bagnaia with three rounds to go in 2024 - but will he regret the five points Marc Marquez took off him at Phillip Island?

And how was Marquez in position to do so anyway, given he was 13th heading into the first corner after a surreal tear-off mishap?

Valentin Khorounzhiy, Simon Patterson and Megan White tackle these questions on the Australian Grand Prix edition of The Race MotoGP Podcast.

They also look at the big sprint crash between Marco Bezzecchi and Maverick Vinales, consider Phillip Island's wildlife problem and answer questions from The Race Members Club.

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As Ducati dominates not just the 2024 MotoGP season but inevitably also discussion on The Race MotoGP Podcast, we banned ourselves from talking about the championship leading team on this week's episode.

Instead Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer delve into the big moves the rest of the paddock are making as they try to get out of Ducati's shadow.

Honda's major technical signing from Aprilia, Aprilia's replacement for him, Yamaha's radical V4 engine switch and KTM's new team boss are all debated, as well as the impact of KTM's not-so-secret weapon Pedro Acosta.

But we also look at the question marks over each project, from Aprilia's current on-track decline to Alex Rins's form for Yamaha and KTM's reputation for being less-than-cordial behind the scenes.

Along the way we answer more of The Race Members' Club's questions on everything outside Ducati - join us on Patreon to be part of that community, put your questions in for our podcasts and get a host of exclusive members-only pods.

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Pecco Bagnaia put on a clinic in MotoGP's Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi - but was he the only real winner on a particularly drab Sunday of premier-class race action?

The Race MotoGP Podcast panel of Valentin Khorounzhiy, Simon Patterson and Megan White discuss a race that never really got going, and whether Jorge Martin should be happy to only lose 11 points after crashing in qualifying.

Pedro Acosta's two falls from pole trigger a conversation about the merits and shortcomings of his rookie campaign, while several The Race Members Club questions are answered - including a closer look at that Ducati GP23 'downgrade' that made headlines during the weekend.

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The latest swings in the 2024 title fight give The Race MotoGP Podcast panel Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer plenty to debate and puzzle over after the Indonesian Grand Prix.

After Jorge Martin crashed from the sprint lead and Pecco Bagnaia struggled for most of the weekend yet still came away with a sprint win and a grand prix podium, The Race Members' Club asked us what on earth is going on with this title fight and why the contenders seem so incapable of consistent results.

They were far from the only riders in strife at Mandalika, though, and we also look into the many other reasons why only 12 bikes made the finish on Sunday.

Yet more tyre pressure angst, VR46 proteges going too easy on each other and Yamaha's sort-of-progress also feature heavily.

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With Jorge Martin barged aside for the race win on the final lap and Pecco Bagnaia crashing out, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix wasn't a great one for either of MotoGP's title contenders.

Should Enea Bastianini's win have stood given the manner of his last-lap move on Martin? Simon Patterson, Megan White, Valentin Khourounzhiy and Matt Beer have some differing views on that in The Race MotoGP Podcast - as did The Race Members' Club, whose questions we answer in the episode as ever.

Bagnaia's crash didn't actually peeve him as much as his weird pace fluctuations before it, but what was really going on there? We delve into that too.

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