Two rounds into the 2025 MotoGP season and it’s a great year to be a Marquez. Almost everyone else has work to do.

But who’s in most trouble?

That’s the question Matt Beer posed to Simon Patterson and Val Khorounzhiy in the latest episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast. They didn’t disagree too much in their answers as they highlighted two manufacturers and one rider in particular who are disappointing, but Matt felt they were missing someone…

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Marc Marquez declared his brother Alex to be his main 2025 MotoGP title rival after their battle for victory in the Argentine Grand Prix.

Was he getting carried away with sibling affection or is Alex really capable of denying his big brother a first championship in six years?

Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer debate that in the Termas de Rio Hondo episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast.

Even if Alex’s title challenge can’t be sustained, right now he’s in a better form and championship situation than Marc’s works Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia. We hear Bagnaia’s explanation for his current lack of pace, and give our take on where he’s lacking.

Plus Ai Ogura’s bizarre disqualification explained, Honda’s progress debated after Johann Zarco’s amazing weekend, fondness for the resurgent Franco Morbidelli and The Race Members’ Club reminds Simon that he predicted first-lap crasher/otherwise anonymous performer Marco Bezzecchi was going to win this race (which prompts a small argument about penalties).

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MotoGP’s 2027 rules reset has become even more seismic with the news the substantial technical regulation changes will coincide with Pirelli ousting Michelin as the series’ tyre supplier.

Simon Patterson joins Matt Beer to explain all the implications for the championship, teams and riders, and to answer The Race Members’ Club’s questions about the potential consequences.

We discuss what Pirelli’s work (and controversies) on the MotoGP ladder, in World Superbikes and even Formula 1 tells us about how its tyres might impact the quality and style of racing in MotoGP.

Is the tyre change a guarantee of a wide open and competitive 2027 season? Simon reckons so - find out why on the pod.

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It wasn’t just Marc Marquez dominating the 2025 MotoGP season-opener - it was the Marquez family, as his brother Alex not only backed him up in qualifying and both races but was also allowed to lead much of the grand prix to ensure Marc dodged a likely penalty.

Has that set the tone for the whole season to come? In the Thai Grand Prix episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast, Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer look at everything that led to the Marquez domination including Pecco Bagnaia’s inability to challenge his team-mate all weekend.

The quirk of his team switch that led to Marquez being at risk of a tyre penalty is explained too, along with the effect of the ferociously hot temperatures on a weekend that left many riders literally burned by their bikes.

Star rookie Ai Ogura and what his performance means for Aprilia features too, and we pass judgements on weekends of both highs and lows for Honda and Yamaha, but mostly lows for KTM. 

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The Race MotoGP Podcast (part-)convenes for an emergency episode in the lead-up to the 2025 season opener in Thailand.

Valentin Khorounzhiy and Simon Patterson discuss Jorge Martin's second pre-season injury, sustained in motocross training that was part of his rehab from the first injury, and the reports that it could write off nearly a quarter of his first season with Aprilia.

They also talk about KTM having its restructuring plan greenlit by creditors in Austria - preserving the company in its current state the day after BMW had been credited with a reported interest in buying it outright.

The mention of BMW briefly takes us into World Superbike land, where its MotoGP-linked star rider Toprak Razgatlioglu was notably unhappy after the season opener - and dropped a heavy-handed exit hint.

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After the massive grid shake-up and a wild winter of injuries and financial catastrophes, MotoGP enters its 2025 season this weekend with a lot of unknowns.

So it’s with some trepidation that The Race MotoGP Podcast’s Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy, Megan White, Matt Beer and Ollie Card attempt to predict the 2025 final top 10 championship order.

How much will KTM’s crisis affect Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder on track this year? What will missing basically all of pre-season do for champion Jorge Martin’s Aprilia acclimatisation?

Is the Marco Bezzecchi resurgence real? Who’s right out of our Yamaha sceptics and Yamaha optimists?

And, of course, who’ll win that Marc Marquez vs Pecco Bagnaia Ducati duel?

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Ducati ended the 2025 MotoGP pre-season by going back to its 2024 engine and chassis - permanently in one case, probably temporarily in the other.

But it still looks like it’ll dominate the season even after that change of plan, as Simon Patterson, Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer explain on a slightly delirious end of pre-season testing episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast.

We assess where the Marc Marquez vs Pecco Bagnaia power balance stands, and how the works team’s switch back to largely 2024 kit affects those who thought they might have an early advantage from running older Ducatis - particularly Marc’s brother Alex.

Our star of pre-season isn’t actually a Ducati rider: it’s Aprilia signing Marco Bezzecchi. We explain why, and give our take on what Bezzecchi’s strong test in injured champion Jorge Martin’s absence means for Aprilia’s season.

Plus what to make of Yamaha, Honda and KTM’s test form.

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Yamaha was the big winner of the first full MotoGP test of 2025, with genuine evidence of a breakthrough over the winter and Fabio Quartararo looking the most likely rider in the field to take the fight to Ducati at the front right now.

Simon Patterson and Val Khorounzhiy join Matt Beer on The Race MotoGP Podcast to look at Yamaha’s progress, the reasons for it and whether that makes it a little race winner or even title challenger or just a firm second best to Ducati.

Which Ducati is even fastest right now, though? We also discuss the dilemma facing factory team-mates Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, and the opportunity for the three riders on the very well sorted 2024 Ducati to make a spectacular start to the season.

Honda’s perplexing test, how Aprilia fared in Jorge Martin’s absence and the many question marks around KTM are also assessed.

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Three riders are out injured after only one day of MotoGP 2025 pre-season testing proper, headlined by world champion Jorge Martin.

Simon Patterson joins Matt Beer on The Race MotoGP Podcast for an additional episode digging into what we know about the cause of Martin’s horrible crash on his first run with the 2025 Aprilia, what the prognosis is for his recovery and what it means for his and Aprilia’s season.

For the other two injured riders, a heavily compromised pre-season might be even more of a blow.

It’s the third time in his four MotoGP pre-seasons (and second in a row) when Raul Fernandez has been injured in a testing crash, while for Fabio Di Giannantonio it’s a fresh injury on his first day following major shoulder reconstruction surgery. And it seems the circumstances of the crash were pretty embarrassing too…

Injuries aside, there’s also a look at what we could learn from the times, upgrades and riders’ moods on day one.

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MotoGP’s fallen/recovering giants Yamaha and Honda held back to back 2025 season launch events in the final days before pre-season testing begins in earnest, and Simon Patterson has returned from them with very different impressions of the two once-great teams.

He joins Matt Beer on The Race MotoGP Podcast to explain why Yamaha looks so much more convincing going into 2025 - and it goes far deeper than just a better executed (and better timed and located) launch event.

What both teams have changed behind the scenes and how their riders feel about those efforts, whether Honda’s big signing will be allowed to do his best work and whether Yamaha is definitely as set on a V4 engine switch as everyone expects as among the other topics discussed.

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