Mark Marquez’s disadvantage? Five important points of the Qatar Motog

The 2025 MotoGP season continues this weekend with the Qatar Grand Prix, the fourth round of the championship.

For the second time since 2007, Grand Prix Paddock will come to Qatar rather than the opening round of the season. This year’s Qatar Grand Prix, usually the first stop and final testing scene in the schedule, will be held at temperatures in early April.

The dramatic American Grand Prix reset the table that comes to the Lusail International Circuit, and Mark Marquez’s DNF took his young, stumped Alex Marquez one point in the championship.

Pecco Bagnaia won the first victory of the last season, only 12 points from the lead as Ducati Management is keeping an eye on where Double World Champion actually wins the campaign.

With the first practice rounding the corner, there are five important storylines to keep in mind at the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix.

Return of the World Champion

Perhaps the biggest storyline surrounding the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix is ​​the arrival of MotoGP world champion Jorge Martin after a long period of time on injured bystanders.

Martin’s debut with Aprilia couldn’t really get any worse. As of FP1 on Friday, he completed just 13 laps in RS-GP in 2025, crashing on the first day of preseason Tests in Malaysia in early February.

He was not seen on the bike since then as he suffered from multiple fractures, but was injured again in a training accident before the Thai Grand Prix.

It is said that Bike Martin is coming in is completely different from what he first tested in Barcelona last November. Trackhouse rookie Aiogra currently sits sixth in the rankings with the best finish of fifth place in the first three rounds, while Martin’s factory teammate Marco Betzecchi has cracked the top six twice.

So Martin comes to a project that moves in the right direction. However, there is no hope for his Aprilia racing debut this weekend. Martin is not sure if he will be able to physically finish the Grand Prix in Qatar.

Entering the fourth round of 22 87 points from the championship lead, his already underdog hopes to look quite far at this stage, and will only get worse when Paduk leaves Qatar on Sunday evening.

If Martin walks through the entire weekend without incident, takes a small step along the way and sees the checkered flag on Sunday, it would count as a big victory in his adaptation to Aprilia.

Can Alex Marquez strengthen his championship lead?

For the first time in his MotoGP career, Alex Marquez will begin a new round leading the world championships. Meanwhile, Gresini Rider’s super match against the GP24 in the first three rounds saw him take advantage of Mark Marquez’s crash from Marc Marquez’s GP lead two weeks ago.

Alex Marquez maintained a 100% second place record in COTA in 2025. This was important considering his previous best Americas GP results in 2021 were No. 12th.

In America he was kicked out by Pecco Bagnaia and relegated to Ducati, the third best in the Grand Prix in terms of pure pace. Whether that trend will continue will be one of the key arcs of the Qatar Grand Prix.

However, Qatar is not one of Mark Marquez’s strongest venues and Bagnaia’s step is still covered in question marks, so Alex Marquez is probably in the best position to stop a complete attack for victory.

Will Pecco Bagnaia’s 2025 season change in Qatar?

Since the preseason, Ducati management has been spinning the Catal Grand Prix in the calendar as the date on which Pecco Bagnaia’s 2025 campaign will actually take place.

Before the American Grand Prix, there was nothing particularly bright for Bagnaia. His teammate Mark Marquez didn’t even challenge Alex Marquez to be the best of the rest.

With the brakes on the Cota GP25 and his senses advanced, Bagnaia was able to return to Podium form. He was able to make Alex Marquez better at the pace, and he was still set to finish quite well behind his teammate Mark Marquez before the latter crashed on lap nine of 19 laps.

Bagnaia didn’t hesitate to strike a chance after the sprint was reduced to 12 in the first victory of the season.

It is true that Bagnaia has a good record in Qatar, but it is true that Ducati is not outstanding enough to guarantee the hype that has accumulated around it. He had one victory in his credits that came last year and won the podiums in 2023 and 2021.

Even with Mark Marquez’s one victory and a four-man podium record in Qatar, it’s hard to see him in the fourth round despite his American Grand Prix crash. The fall came from his own error as he ran too far to the wet curb than he put pressure on Bagnaia.

Certainly, Bagnaia has the opportunity to approach this weekend, but the steps he still needs to make are important.

Can Qatar boost another Ducati Rider after Cota Podium returns?

Following the previous point regarding Bagnaia, it is worth pointing out that the rider who beat him at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix was a certain Fabio Digiannantonio. The Italians just happens to belong to the same spec of the GP25, which Bagnaia and Marc Marquez ride.

For anyone who missed the entire preseason due to an injury from a stupid collision on his way back to Pitrane at the end of Sepang’s first day, Di Giannantonio was slightly unashamed.

Still feeling the impact of a collarbone injury in Kota, he was running at least the fourth best in the season, VR46 Ducati, before being boosted third by Mark Marquez’s crash. Perhaps more encouraging for Di Giannantonio was the fact that he was on track for the main group just 3.5 seconds after his victory and about seven seconds from the rest of the field.

His rather quick turnover at the GP25 could cause the three main Ducatis headaches of Qatar’s Mark Marquez, Alex Marquez and Bagnaia. Qatar GP holds special memories of Di Giannantonio in the scene of the maiden victory at the Gresini-Run GP22, which essentially saved MotoGP’s career.

He came in seventh in Qatar’s overwhelming GP23 package last year. Armed with a bike, he knows at least he can reach the podium, Di Giannantonio was able to do some big things with Lessile.

Clarification of rules after Cota Chaos

Qatar’s desert setting should mean repeating the COTA start chaos that was induced by the weather two weeks ago.

However, the championship remains a big topic as it is likely to be considered more quickly if repeated in the future. Race Director Mike Webb spares quite a few riders, including penalty race winner Pecco Bagnaia, as he made the decision to abandon the original start at Kota at the Safety Ground. motorsport.com This week, rules may be closed and simplified.

That may come on Thursday when the race instructions will issue memos next weekend, but given that a similar start is unlikely to be a problem with Lesail, there is no need to rush the process.

The way Mark Marquez knew that if he played the rulebook and followed enough riders from Kota’s grid, a start delay would be triggered, would attract the attention of his rivals. Others are doing their homework prior to Qatari Grand Prix to ensure that they can work the rulebook favorably if opportunities arise.