Marc Marquez race sim is red-hot, but he points at favourite to win Thai MotoGP

Marc Marquez has denied that he is the favourite to fight for victory in the opening round of MotoGP 2025 in Thailand despite a head-turning race simulation on the last day of testing.

The factory Ducati rider completed a 23-lap race simulation on Thursday at the Buriram test in an average time of 1m30.378s, which was half a second quicker than the all-time best grand prix lap at the venue from 2023.

Marquez also caused a stir with a sprint simulation at the Sepang test, while he topped both days at Buriram on the combined standings.

This has already led many to brand him favourite to open up the 2025 season with a win, though he still believes that title belongs to his team-mate Francesco Bagnaia.

“For me, the favourite is Pecco and I’m the second one,” he said.

“Last year we finished the championship like this.

“He fought for the championship for the last four years, won two times.

“So, we are in the world championship, everyone is very fast. Testing is testing, but how many pre-seasons is one rider super-fast?

“So, we will try to find a good base. We found it, but continue with a good balance that will be very important.

“And don’t forget [Jorge] Martin. Ok, he’s not here and when you don’t see the name you just forget.

“But he’s a world champion, and as we saw [Marco] Bezzecchi today with the Aprilia he was fast.”

Marc Marquez on Ducati engine decision

On the final day of testing, Ducati confirmed it would be racing with its 2024 engine for the next two years having not been able to make clear gains with the 2025 spec.

On the decision, Marquez said: “I mean, of course, from the beginning I saw that, for me, it was two new bikes.

“So, from the beginning I saw that the balance of the ’24 was super good.

“But then we kept working a lot on the ’25 to understand if we can manage the weak points, because there was some very strong points.

“But then trying the bike in three different race tracks, we understood… well, more than understand, I think Ducati took a smart decision to stay calm and be with the 2024 base, the engine, because then we have some small new things that we introduced here, we introduce at the races.

“But the bike is working well and was no reason to take a risk to homologate an engine that we don’t know for the next two years.”

Marquez also downplayed his impressive race run on the final day of testing, highlighting that not many did full distances like he did and that his brother Alex Marquez had a bike issue on his.

“I think not a lot of people did a long race, but it was one of my targets,” he explained.

“I know that it is boring, but it was a motivation there against my brother because is is fast also and he had a small problem.

“But it was like ‘ok, we do it different, not together, and then at the end we compare’. And we did it, because at the end he is riding in a very good way.

“I had a big list on technical side and on performance side and on my side of riding style, and we achieved everything. So, I’m ready to start the season.”