The 2025 MotoGP season begins this weekend with the 19th round of the Australian Grand Prix being held at beautiful Phillip Island.
The championship race has already been settled in Marc Marquez’s favor, but there is still plenty of intrigue surrounding the final four races of the season.
And he will have to continue without the world champion for at least the next two weeks after undergoing surgery on a shoulder injury he sustained at the Indonesian Grand Prix.
With Marquez absent, as well as Jorge Martin and Maverick Vinales, last year’s entire front row squad will not be competing in the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.
Aprilia’s qualifying favorite Marco Bezzecchi was penalized for a collision with Marquez at Mandalica, while taking the most unexpected position of the whole race at the Indonesian Grand Prix.
Weather and wildlife are always a factor in racing on Phillip Island, so there’s always the potential for unexpected results and wild events.
In a year dominated by Marc Marquez and Ducati, will Phillip Island be the most open Grand Prix yet this season?
That’s the main question posed to the crash panel on the latest edition of the Crash MotoGP podcast. You can listen to this podcast at the link below.
Download the Crash MotoGP Podcast here
Crash MotoGP editor Peter McLaren said: “It always brings drama, excitement and above all great racing.”
“The headbutt of the Seagull (Andrea) Iannone will always remain in people’s memory. But you can look back at almost any event and find something special about it. It was the first place in 2019 where Aprilia RS-GP led a race and that was a huge event. And then a week later there was Sepang, where he (Iannone) failed an anti-doping test.
“Even events that may seem inconsequential have a huge impact and they all come back to Phillip Island and this weekend marks one of our most open weekends since Mark was injured in 2020.”
“Marc has been doing great around Phillip Island. If you look at his run this year, if he was fit and riding, he would have almost guaranteed two wins this weekend. Instead, he’s out with an injury and last year’s front row won’t be there. We have Pekko who we don’t know if it’s going to be Motegi Pekko or Mandalika Pekko this weekend. We have Bez. He looked fast in the twisty sections,” Mandalika said. It is almost certain that he will receive a penalty. It’s really difficult to predict…”