Across the opening 19 rounds, one rider \u2013 Marc Marquez \u2013 won 11 Grands Prix and 14 sprint races, meaning the world championship was in the bag not long after the sport left Europe for the annual flyaways through Asia and Australia. And \u2013 fortunately for Marquez \u2013 right before he was taken out at the Indonesian Grand Prix<\/a> and injured his right shoulder, which required surgery and a recovery that will now sideline him for the remainder of the season. <\/p>\n Even before Marquez became a bystander, the season was heading into unexplainable territory. <\/p>\n Now, picking a winner is akin to predicting Phillip Island\u2019s weather. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n \u2018GOING TO BE A MOTOGP RIDER\u2019<\/a> How Agius took legend\u2019s advice to uncork masterclass<\/p>\n AUSTRALIA TALKING POINTS <\/a> First-time winner slots open goal, \u2018deflated\u2019 Miller\u2019s lament<\/p>\n At the Island last Sunday, Raul Fernandez \u2013 the same Raul Fernandez in his fourth MotoGP season who had never spent a single lap in a Grand Prix inside the top three<\/a> \u2013 won on his 76th start. A fortnight earlier in Indonesia, 20-year-old Fermin Aldeguer became the first rookie race-winner in 12 years<\/a>. <\/p>\n Perhaps the biggest recent outlier of all? Francesco Bagnaia winning the sprint and Grand Prix in Japan<\/a> the round before Mandalika, given the two-time MotoGP champion hasn\u2019t scored a single point in the other three rounds of the past four. <\/p>\n The past five Grands Prix have produced five different winners, but that\u2019s not the biggest shock. What is? That of the nine Spaniards who are full-timers on this year\u2019s grid, just one \u2013 Pedro Acosta \u2013 is now not a premier-class Grand Prix winner after Aldeguer and Fernandez broke through in the past two rounds, and Alex Marquez took his first MotoGP victories earlier this season.<\/p>\n Celebrations all round for Senna Agius | 06:44<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s beneficial that a world championship has nearly half of its riders hail from one country is a matter of personal taste; what\u2019s not for debate is that you\u2019d have got the longest odds imaginable in the pre-season if you suggested Aldeguer or Fernandez would win a race before a rider whose feeder-class CV is comparable to Marc Marquez, and who finished inside the top three in two of the first three Grands Prix of his rookie year<\/a> in 2024. <\/p>\n Acosta has scored more points (233) and sits higher in the standings (fifth) than he did 12 months ago, but he remains on the outside looking longingly for that maiden win. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not through lack of trying for a KTM project that was left stuck at the starting gate after off-season financial woes, and as the Austrian brand has stabilised off-track, Acosta has been its kingpin on it. <\/p>\n Nineteen rounds in, he\u2019s demolished teammate Brad Binder 19-0 in qualifying \u2013 the only rider who has outqualified their teammate at every round \u2013 and scored 107 more points. The 21-year-old has three 2025 Grand Prix podiums to his name, the most recent coming in Mandalika where he cunningly used the KTM\u2019s class-leading top speed to stay ahead on the straights, and then run interference on the rest for the remainder of the lap to finish second, executing a brilliantly defensive race he didn\u2019t relish, but was a means to an end. <\/p>\n After nearly two full seasons, Pedro Acosta is still awaiting his maiden MotoGP win that looked inevitable from day one. (Photo by Martin KEEP \/ AFP) \/ –IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE–Source: AFP<\/p>\n With three rounds to go in 2025, opportunity knocks for Acosta this weekend. <\/p>\n Marquez, Jorge Martin \u2013 who Marquez succeeded as world champion \u2013 and Maverick Vinales remain out injured. Marco Bezzecchi and Aprilia has been the fastest package for the past two Grands Prix, but has won neither. Bagnaia is now a day-by-day \u2013 seemingly corner-by-corner \u2013 mystery. Yamaha\u2019s Fabio Quartararo can be brilliant enough to snare pole position over one lap, but so compromised by his machinery that he can fall to 11th over 27 laps, as he did at Phillip Island. <\/p>\n With potential roadblocks to that maiden win disappearing one by one, Acosta must fancy himself as a chance to take a victory that has always felt like it\u2019ll be the first of many when it arrives, but one that he\u2019s still waiting for as his rivals \u2013 and countrymen \u2013 jump the queue. <\/p>\n An Acosta victory this weekend would be against the run of play for KTM, which hasn\u2019t won a Grand Prix since Thailand in 2022. But as the past five rounds have shown, stranger things can \u2013 will \u2013 happen. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s your Insider\u2019s Guide to round 20 of the MotoGP season, with the 20-lap Malaysian Grand Prix set for 6pm (AEDT) on Sunday after the 10-lap sprint race at 6pm Saturday.<\/p>\n CHAMP TO SIT OUT UNTIL 2026<\/p>\n The anticipated news that Marc Marquez will not ride a MotoGP bike again in 2025 was confirmed on Thursday, Ducati issuing a statement announcing this year\u2019s world champion will sit out the final two rounds after this weekend in Malaysia to round out the campaign in Portugal (November 7-9) and Valencia (November 14-17), with the 32-year-old to also miss the one-day test that follows the final round of the year.<\/p>\n Marquez won his first premier-class title in six years and his seventh MotoGP title in all in Japan on September 28<\/a>, but injured his right shoulder in a first-lap accident with Bezzecchi in Indonesia a week later, returning to Madrid for what was first scheduled to be rest and rehabilitation, but later became surgery. <\/p>\n Marquez won\u2019t be back in the MotoGP paddock until next year\u2019s pre-season tests in Malaysia. (Photo by SONNY TUMBELAKA \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n Marquez, whose run of six titles in his first seven MotoGP seasons was derailed when he crashed at Jerez in 2020 and underwent four separate surgeries on his right arm, had hoped to come back for the first test day of Ducati\u2019s 2026 machine, but will aim to return to the pre-season tests set to begin in Malaysia next February. <\/p>\n In a statement, Ducati general manager Gigi Dall\u2019Igna said: \u201cSince we learned about the injury diagnosis, we knew the chances of having Marc in Valencia for the Grand Prix and the test were very low. It\u2019s a shame because it\u2019s very important for us to have him on track, but we know perfectly that the priority is to recover and return 100 per cent fit for the next season. We fully support the decision and are convinced that not taking further risks is the best choice for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Ducati test rider Michele Pirro will substitute for Marquez in Sepang as he did last weekend at Phillip Island, while a replacement for Portimao and Valencia has yet to be named.<\/p>\n \u2018DIG YOURSELF OUT OF THE S**T\u2019: MILLER\u2019S RESPONSE TO VIRAL MOMENT<\/p>\n Jack Miller described his crash out of last Sunday\u2019s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island as being a \u201csh**ty situation\u201d, after vision of the distraught Australian emerged on social media this week showing his devastation over his fall on lap five of his home Grand Prix. <\/p>\n The Yamaha rider, one day finishing just 0.066 seconds off the Phillip Island sprint race podium in fourth place for his best sprint result of the season, was in a comfortable fifth place when he crashed<\/a> in Sunday\u2019s 27-lap Grand Prix, his emotional download with his Pramac Racing team \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m such a f**king idiot, I don\u2019t understand why I can\u2019t do it\u201d \u2013 being viewed over 101,000 times on X in the past three days. <\/p>\n Fifth, had it held, would have been Miller\u2019s best result since he finished in the same position in the third round of the season in Texas<\/a>; while he was more calm but still ruing his mistake on Thursday at Sepang, he\u2019s optimistic of a better result at the track where he tested the 2025 Yamaha for the first time in February after crossing from KTM in the off-season.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sh**ty, it\u2019s a sh**ty situation \u2026 it\u2019s never nice crashing out, whether it\u2019s your home Grand Prix or on the other side of the world,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe put our all into this every weekend, and when it seems like you can\u2019t catch a break and you\u2019re beating your head against the wall, it gets tough. But I\u2019m able to compartmentalise a bit, put that in the past and move forward afterwards. You have that moment and you try to understand why, how, and go forwards. <\/p>\n \u201cFortunately enough for me, I\u2019ve done 250 of these [Grands Prix] now, so it\u2019s one of those things you have to get used to and dig yourself out of the s**t and try to get yourself back up on top.\u201d <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n RACE REPORT<\/a> Spaniard breaks through, Aussie suffers home heartbreak<\/p>\n SATURDAY TALKING POINTS<\/a> Aussie\u2019s late attack, winner\u2019s apology, Ducati\u2019s shocker<\/p>\n In eight previous starts at Sepang, Miller has a best result of sixth (for Ducati in 2022), and qualified fourth for Ducati in 2019; last year, he was involved in a scary first-lap accident<\/a> when he was hit by Quartararo\u2019s Yamaha and fell head-first into the rear tyre of the Frenchman\u2019s bike, coming to rest on the track before his legs were run over by Honda\u2019s Joan Mir. <\/p>\n Miller miraculously escaped injury in the sickening spill, and has his eye on converting his top-10 pace in the past two races in Indonesia and Australia into points 12 months on. <\/p>\n \u201cIndonesia, I felt like we had better pace, better speed and more consistency over the laps, being able to repeat lap times time after time on our own,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cYes, it\u2019s true we need to stay on the bike more often \u2026 but I\u2019m trying my absolute maximum and trying to push this thing to the edge, and sometimes mistakes happen and you come unstuck. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll try to build on Friday and try to get a clear run into Q2, because that can make a weekend bang-average or really positive. But I believe we\u2019ve got good pace and our bike should work here well \u2026 it worked good in the [February] test here, and I was relatively new on it then.\u201d<\/p>\n Yamaha will field a fifth bike this weekend in Sepang, test rider Augusto Fernandez competing on a YZR-M1 fitted with a V4 engine as part of Yamaha\u2019s plans to race it full-time in the near future after a previous outing in Misano in September.<\/p>\n Miller\u2019s pace at Phillip Island was up with the front-runners before his untimely crash in the Grand Prix after he finished fourth in the sprint. (Photo by Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n APRILIA BOSS WELCOMES \u2018DIFFICULT\u2019 2026 WITH RIDER PAIRING<\/p>\n Aprilia took a giant step towards wrapping up second place in this year\u2019s MotoGP constructors\u2019 standings when Fernandez won for Trackhouse Racing in Australia, a result Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola says represents a good result for the Italian brand after a campaign of injury and tumult behind the scenes. <\/p>\n Aprilia\u2019s signing of 2024 world champion Jorge Martin was expected to propel its factory team into title contention this season, but the Spaniard was injured in pre-season testing in Malaysia, injured again when he returned for Qatar in round four<\/a>, and is again sidelined this weekend as he recovers from breaking his right collarbone in the sprint race in Japan, and has only started 13 of 38 races across sprints and Grands Prix this season. <\/p>\n Bezzecchi has produced career-best form in Martin\u2019s absence \u2013 the Italian overtook Bagnaia for third in the standings when he finished third in Australia, his seventh Grand Prix podium of the season. <\/p>\n Speaking to Fox Sports\u2019 \u2018Pit Talk\u2019 podcast, Rivola said Bezzecchi\u2019s improved performance with added responsibility is Aprilia\u2019s biggest gain this season.<\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola joins Pit Talk to review a successful yet tumultuous year in MotoGP, look at the growth of Marco Bezzecchi and his hopes for Jorge Martin, and discuss Liberty Media\u2019s arrival while reminiscing about his F1 days working for Australian Paul Stoddart. Check out Pit Talk below.<\/p>\n \u201cThe expectations were higher than that coming into the season, but we should be happy about what was done with what we had,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very happy about the growth of Marco. We knew that he was super-fast, in terms of talent and in terms of natural speed, but we didn\u2019t know him as a deep worker, and it was really good to see him growing together with us with a great attitude. <\/p>\n \u201cHe became a leader, because we were lacking on the other side of the garage when Jorge was missing. He became the leader, and this makes things even more interesting when Jorge will be back because I\u2019m sure Jorge also wants to be the leader, so it will be a nice fight.\u201d <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761200708_112_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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