Alex Marquez Tops Barcelona MotoGP Test

Teams got an opportunity to acquire critical data to perfect their new motorcycles in the first official test for the 2025 season

Gresini rider Alex Marquez set the fastest in the post-season MotoGP test in Barcelona on Tuesday, while his elder brother Marc Marquez completed his maiden session with the factory Ducati squad.

The younger Marquez dominated the timings for the duration of the seven-hour session at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after going to the top of the scoreboard early on with a 1m40.006s flier.

New factory KTM rider Pedro Acosta enjoyed a brief period at the front in the morning, before two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia ascended to the top with a 1m39.398s in the third hour.

Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo then removed Bagnaia from the lead, before the younger Marquez lapped the track in 1m38.803s in the fourth hour to take back the control.

Although the Spaniard wrecked his new GP24 bike with a collision at Turn 7 in the last hour, his previous performance remained undefeated as the track quickly cooled off in the evening.

Quartararo was also able to cling on to second position on his Yamaha M1 thanks of his earlier effort of 1m39.199s, which placed him 0.396s down on Marquez's mark.

Bagnaia ended a further two tenths away in third, after he tested three different Desmosedici bikes over the course of the day. The Italian not only had his race-winning GP24 bike and the 2025-spec GP25 at his disposal but also a hybrid of the two bikes ready to test in Barcelona.

He took part in the test using his old bike number, 63, having renounced the right to use the #1 plate after losing the 2024 title to Jorge Martin last weekend.

One of the biggest headlines of the day was Marc Marquez, who made his debut with Ducati's factory squad as Bagnaia's team-mate following a year racing for the satellite Gresini team.

The six-time MotoGP champion chalked up a total of 49 laps on Tuesday, rising to fourth on the standings with 15 minutes remaining on the clock with a late effort of 1m39.454s.

Like new team-mate Bagnaia, Marquez also had several specifications of the Desmosedici available to test, but entered the track for the first time with the new GP25 that he will be racing in 2025.

His bike was painted in a brilliant shade of red and bore little corporate identification, much like his race attire.

Behind, Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez was the highest Aprilia racer in fifth, while Brad Binder moved up to sixth with a late improvement on his factory KTM.

Franco Morbidelli finished eighth on his debut day with VR46, the squad controlled by his coach Valentino Rossi, beating the Yamaha of Alex Rins by 0.003s.

Acosta closed completed his debut day with KTM's main squad in ninth place, while LCR rider Johann Zarco was the highest Honda rider in 10th.

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Newly crowned MotoGP champion Martin made a much-awaited debut with Aprilia on Tuesday morning, testing the waters on its race-winning 2024-spec RS-GP before moving to its new prototype later in the day.

Apart from a slow low-side accident at Turn 5, Martin's day went mainly smoothly as he chalked up 77 laps, ending up 11th with his fastest time being just over a second behind on Alex Marquez.

New Tech3 KTM signing Maverick Vinales finished 12th quickest, but his new team-mate Enea Bastianini ruined his RC16 with a crash at Turn 5 at the start of hour six.

Bastianini was able to complete the test on a spare bike, finishing 16th out of 24 runners.

Barcelona also saw recently-retired Aleix Espargaro make his debut appearance as a test rider for Honda, ending up 14th on the board and ahead of HRC's Joan Mir.

The quickest rookie of the day was Gresini's Fermin Aldeguer in 20th place, one spot ahead of Trackhouse's Ai Ogura and two spots clear of LCR rider Somkiat Chantra.

All three riders experienced crashes in the first three hours of running, but were able to recover and acquire critical miles as they began preparations for 2025.

VR46 racer Fabio di Giannantonio, who will be one of the three riders to compete with the new Ducati GP25 in 2025, was again absent from action as he continues to recover from surgery.

He was effectively replaced by Ducati tester Michele Pirro, who also tried a new two-way radio communication system that Dorna has been working on.