MotoGP shares best moments and closest finish from 2025 season, as Toyota and Honda are firm with Super Formula and Super GT line-ups.
In the summer, we gave you some of the most memorable moments of the season so far. Now, as we head into the winter break, it’s time to look back at some of the best bits from the second half of our record-breaking campaign.
COMEBACK = COMPLETE
The crowning moment of 2025. Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) completed one of sport’s greatest ever comebacks at the Japanese GP to clinch his first MotoGP title since 2019. THE story of 2025.
FERNANDEZ & ALDEGUER NOTCH UP DEBUT MOTOGP WINS
While Marquez’s title win was by far the biggest story of 2025, there were plenty of subplots that we enjoyed too. In Indonesia, Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) cruised to victory to become the first rookie to win a MotoGP Grand Prix since Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) in 2021, while Phillip Island played host to Raul Fernandez and Trackhouse MotoGP’s debut victory.
BEZZECCHI AND MARQUEZ’S INDONESIA CLASH
On the same day of Aldeguer’s victory, we witnessed Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi’s (Aprilia Racing) Lap 1 crash. Ultimately, it ended the World Champion’s season prematurely and became a huge talking point after the #93 had – crucially -already clinched the title.
MIR PUTS HRC BACK ON THE PODIUM
To say HRC’s recent years in MotoGP have been tricky is an understatement, but there is a rather bright ray of light appearing at the end of the tunnel. And that was highlighted with Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) bookending the flyaway tour with podiums in Japan and Malaysia – his first with the Japanese manufacturer.
BAGNAIA SMOKES THE FIELD IN JAPAN
It was a rollercoaster 2025 for Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), but a real high point was his flawless weekend at the Mobility Resort Motegi. But Sunday’s Grand Prix victory didn’t arrive without a handful of nerves for fans and the Ducati box when the double MotoGP World Champion’s Ducati threatened to cost Pecco his comfortable 25 points.
SPRINT OF THE YEAR?
Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) vs Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), with a little bit of Bezzecchi thrown in there too. Portimao’s Tissot Sprint was a proper edge-of-your-seat blockbuster between second, third and fourth in the championship.
Closest finishes –
The most exciting sport on Earth lived up to that mantra time and time again in 2025; blockbuster battles that resulted in some of the closest racing ever seen. We look through the top five closest finishes of the 2025 season across Grands Prix and Sprints, whilst also doing a bit of number crunching to showcase just how close our sport can be.
0.568s – Misano’s Grand Prix
Marco Bezzecchi was leading Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) at Misano on Sunday. A mistake at Turn 8 let the soon-to-be seven-time MotoGP World Champion ahead before both exchanged fastest laps for the rest of the Grand Prix in what was one of the most fast-paced and intense GPs of 2025. Marquez kept Bez at bay but the Italian was a firm fixture on the podium.
0.530s – Le Mans’ Sprint
France is always special and it was unique in 2025 too. Retaking the Championship lead from his brother, Marc Marquez held off Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) to rein supreme by a little over half a second at the chequered flag – cooly waved by cycling legend Mark Cavendish. Behind, late drama for Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), crashing with two corners to go from P5. Rather ironically, on Sunday, Johann Zarco’s (CASTROL Honda LCR) win by 19.907s was the biggest of the year.
0.351s – Assen’s Sprint
In another dominant performance by Marc Marquez, the #93 resisted late pressure from brother Alex to hold make it a ninth Sprint victory from the opening ten of the season. Elsewhere, it was a strong initial showing from polesitter and early leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) before a crash at Turn 10 took him out of contention.
0.157s – Mandalika’s Sprint
It was a last lap battle in the heat and humidity of Indonesia on Saturday as Bezzecchi and Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) went head-to-head on the final lap. A poor start from pole, Bez worked his way back through and on the last lap, Aldeguer had no answer at Turn 10. A Saturday victory for Bezzecchi before Aldeguer dominated on Sunday, a weekend to remember for both.
0.120s – Portimao’s Sprint
The closest finish of the MotoGP season, the Portimao Sprint was arguably one of the best of the season. It looked like Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) had it all done and dusted going into the final couple of laps but Pedro Acosta had other ideas, closing in late on. It wasn’t to be as Marquez held on, Acosta forced to wait again. This was also the closest podium of the year, with Bezzecchi in third and just 0.637s from victory.
Extra notes: blink and you’ll miss it!
Just getting points in MotoGP is a hard task these days, particularly when the gap from P1 to P15 is as low as 18.758s – that’s the closest it got this year at Lusail in Qatar. It’s not just once the lights go out either: in qualifying, the closest front row was covered by just 0.044s in Valencia and less than a tenth of a second on three other occasions, whilst the gap between pole and P2 got as low as 0.016s on two occasions: the Red Bull Ring and Balaton Park. It was less than a tenth of a second on nine occasions! Elsewhere, Moto2’s Aragon Grand Prix was the closest finish in the class with just 0.003s between Deniz Öncü and Diogo Moreira.
Other news –
Toyota’s Super Formula and Super GT line-up: https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/43768812.html
Honda’s line-up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Super_Formula_Championship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Super_GT_Series
[The story is as per press release]