MARQUEZ WINS IN QATAR AS VINALES’ PODIUM VANISHES AFTER PENALTY

Marc Marquez bounced back from his crash while leading in Austin to win the Qatar Grand Prix, but the weekend’s biggest surprise came from Maverick Viñales—and his apparent second place disappeared after a tyre-pressure penalty.

At Losail, Ducati showed its strength from the opening sessions. Marquez qualified on pole, with his brother Alex alongside him and Fabio Quartararo completing the front row. Franco Morbidelli, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Viñales were among those positioned to challenge. Pedro Acosta, by contrast, could manage only 12th on the grid.

The sprint offered a familiar Ducati result: Marc and Alex Marquez broke away, while Morbidelli completed the podium after passing Quartararo. Quartararo finished fifth, ahead of KTM riders Fermin Aldeguer, Viñales and Acosta, who scored no sprint points. Johann Zarco’s race ended in a crash.

Sunday’s grand prix unfolded differently. Alex Marquez was caught up in an early collision and dropped back, while Francesco Bagnaia charged forward from 11th on the grid to third by lap four. Morbidelli initially led as he tried to prevent Marc Marquez from escaping at the front.

Viñales, riding for KTM’s Tech3 team, was the revelation. Confident in the front of his RC16, he picked off riders until he had passed the leading Ducati trio and taken the lead. He held it for six laps before a small mistake allowed Marquez through. Viñales crossed the line in second after 22 laps, but officials later imposed a 16-second penalty for a substantial front tyre-pressure infringement. The sanction dropped him to 14th and left Tech3 boss Hervé Poncharal furious.

Marquez therefore claimed his seventh victory of the season, ahead of Bagnaia and Morbidelli. Zarco recovered from his sprint crash to finish fourth, six seconds behind the winner. Quartararo took seventh, with Acosta eighth as the highest-placed KTM rider after Viñales’s penalty. Marco Bezzecchi was ninth.

The weekend also brought another serious setback for reigning champion Jorge Martin. Making his first Grand Prix appearance of 2025 after an earlier injury, he finished 15th in the sprint but crashed again on Sunday. He was taken back to hospital with multiple broken ribs and other fractures, adding to the strain on his relationship with Aprilia.