The final 2025 MotoGP pre-season test began on Wednesday morning at Buriram in Thailand.
Gresini’s Alex Marquez put the Ducati GP24 on top last week at Sepang and, having also been fastest at November’s Barcelona test, has the chance to complete a winter clean sweep.
Meanwhile, the factory Ducati team of brother Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia have some big decisions to make over engine choice for the new GP25, with the engines of all European bikes frozen from round one until the end of 2026.
Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha stepped up to occupy best of the rest behind Ducati at Sepang but, having benefitted from extra track time at the Shakedown, can they keep pace on an equal playing field at Buriram?
Honda is the only manufacturer with prior 2025 MotoGP laps of the Chang International Circuit, courtesy of a private test in January with Aleix Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami.
Absent this week will be Aprilia’s new signing and reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Martin and VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio who were both injured at Sepang. Raul Fernandez, also injured on the first day in Malaysia, will try to ride in Buriram.
Testing at Buriram takes place from 10am to 6pm, followed by practice starts, on Wednesday and Thursday.
Woah! Marc Marquez plays his cards right at the end, setting best-of-the-day times in all four sectors to blast 0.465s clear of the field, led by brother Alex.
To put that advantage into context, 0.4s covers the rest of the top ten!
The big question now is what bike configuration Marc Marquez is using...
Franco Morbidelli underlines why Ducati are seriously considering keeping the GP24 engine for the factory GP25s by moving into 4th place behind Alex Marquez, Marc Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi.
After Pedro Acosta's earlier spill, Brad Binder's timing has now also 'frozen' in the final sector, suggesting he too has fallen.
Zarco isn't the only Honda rider making strides up the order, Joan Mir is now into 11th, repeating a trend from the Sepang test where the RC213V seemed to be much improved in a time attack configuration.
LCR Honda's Johann Zarco puts down four personal best sectors and is rewarded with sixth on the timesheets, just 0.312s from Alex Marquez and directly behind HRC's Luca Marini.
Alex Rins makes it three Yamahas in a row by splitting Miller and Quartararo for 10th place. Miller's team-mate Miguel Oliveira is 15th.
The top ten with 30-minutes of day 1 to go:
1. Alex Marquez, 2. Marc Marquez, 3. Marco Bezzecchi, 4. Pedro Acosta, 5. Luca Marini, 6. Franco Morbidelli, 7. Francesco Bagnaia, 8. Brad Binder, 9. Jack Miller, 10. Fabio Quartararo.
Binder delivers four personal best sectors and climbs another place, to 8th, at Jack Miller's expense.
KTM's Brad Binder improves by one place, to 9th, and looks to be on another hot lap with a best yet opening sector.
Fabio Quartararo, currently 9th and directly behind the top M1 of Jack Miller, looks to be done for the day as he's speaking to the trackside media at 5:40pm.
For comparison, test leader Alex Marquez is only a fraction behind his qualifying time (for ninth on the grid) in last October's grand prix.
However Francesco Bagnaia, on pole for that event, is presently +1.3s slower than his Q2 time.
Official temp data is still saying a scorching 35 degrees but the track is steadily cooling from its peak of 52 degrees earlier in the afternoon to 38 degrees now.
5pm Results - 2025 Buriram MotoGP Test (Day 1)
The final hour begins...
Looks like KTM's Pedro Acosta, 4th on the timesheets, has fallen somewhere in the final sector. His lap time is not updating beyond sector 3.
The combined top ten with just over an hour of Wednesday testing to go:
1. Alex Marquez, 2. Marc Marquez, 3. Marco Bezzecchi, 4. Pedro Acosta, 5. Luca Marini, 6. Franco Morbidelli, 7. Francesco Bagnaia, 8. Jack Miller, 9. Fabio Quartararo, 10. Brad Binder.
Francesco Bagnaia rises to 7th place, 0.379s from Alex Marquez. The slightly cooler track surface means we're also seeing some personal best sectors from the likes of Marc Marquez and Joan Mir.
1 hour and 20mins to go on day one and new Tech3 riders Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales are again lodged near the bottom of the timesheets in 18th and 19th.
The injured Raul Fernandez is just ahead of them, with only rookie Somkiat Chantra and Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori behind the Tech3 riders.
Fabio Quartararo makes it two Yamahas in the combined top eight, just behind Miller and 0.584s from Alex Marquez.
Fastest rider by brand:
Alex Marquez (Ducati) 1st
Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) 3rd
Pedro Acosta (KTM) 4th
Jack Miller (Yamaha) 7th
Johann Zarco (Honda) 12th
The air temperature is still reading 35 degrees, at 4:20pm, but the track temperature has at least dropped to 40 degrees (from a peak of 52).
Marc Marquez sets his fastest lap time of the day to slot into second place, 0.126s behind brother Alex. But is he on a GP24 or a GP25? Hopefully, we'll find out later, but the factory Ducati riders might well be vague about the exact mix of parts they are using.
If they do step back to the GP24, it would echo the move made at the start of 2022, when then factory Ducati riders Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller made a last-minute switch from the GP22 to a GP21-style engine.
The GP21 might not have won the championship but is still considered by many to be Ducati's best all-round MotoGP bike, a status that could be challenged by the GP24.
Pedro Acosta (KTM) has set the highest top speed of the day so far with 337.5km/h. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) are tied on 336.4km/h.
The top Yamaha is Fabio Quartararo (334.3km/h) with Honda, whose new engine is known to lack raw power, at the tail end of the charts with 331.2km/h (Joan Mir).
4pm Results - 2025 Buriram MotoGP Test (Day 1)
Two hours of Wednesday testing to go...
Pramac Yamaha's Jack Miller is another improver, he's now into 6th on the combined day 1 times as the leading M1 rider. Fabio Quartararo is next best Yamaha in 11th.
