Two struggling ex-champs among five key storylines for 2025 Thailand MotoGP

The 2025 MotoGP season begins this weekend with the Thai Grand Prix, with many intriguing plot points to follow as the campaign gets underway.

Two weeks on from the end of pre-season testing, MotoGP returns to Buriram for its first curtain raiser in South East Asia since the 2003 Japanese GP.

The major story heading into the new season is the absence of reigning champion Jorge Martin, who - after missing all of testing due to injury - suffered a complex fracture to his left hand on Monday while training.

The new factory Aprilia rider will be absent indefinitely, leaving the Noale marque to start the season without its star acquisition.

Ducati looks like it remains the manufacturer to beat in 2025, not least with Marc Marquez joining its factory squad and dominating the final day of the Buriram test.

The intra-team dynamic between Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia is one being watched with great anticipation, with fallout predicted between the pair after their on-track clashes early last year.

MotoGP’s Japanese manufacturers look to be making real strides back towards the front, while three new faces join the grid to begin their journeys in the premier class.

Here are five storyline to watch out for at the 2025 Thailand GP.

Marco Bezzecchi in the spotlight as Aprilia starts year without Jorge Martin

Aprilia suffered a bruising first day of pre-season testing at Sepang earlier this month, as crashes forced both reigning champion Jorge Martin and Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez - the marque’s only rider with prior knowledge of the RS-GP - out on day one.

Fernandez was able to return for the Buriram test, but Martin remained sidelined. And just as he was nearing his return having completed just 90 laps on the RS-GP since last November, he crashed during a training session on Monday 24 February.

The complex nature of Martin’s fractures will likely be a major setback, as Aprilia is yet to determine a recovery time.

Martin’s move to Aprilia was a major coup for the manufacturer, as it snared at the time the championship leader - and then eventual champion - from Ducati after the latter reneged on its pledge to promote him to its factory squad.

A strong start to life as an Aprilia rider, not only in terms of speed but also in a leadership role, at the Barcelona test laid strong foundations for good things to happen in 2025. Instead, Aprilia will be relying on its other new recruit Marco Bezzecchi to step into that role at the start of the year.

And, to his credit, he has so far done so in the pre-season. Bezzecchi’s adaptation to the RS-GP appears to be going well, with the Italian third overall at the Buriram test and putting in an impressive sprint simulation on the last day.

There were question marks over how Bezzecchi would take to driving development of a bike in a factory surrounding. But, so far, those have all been answered positively.

While Aprilia won’t be expecting miracles, however, there will now be a raised level of expectation on Bezzecchi’s shoulders to keep steering the ship in the right direction and also maximise results in Martin’s absence. That heightens the pressure on him at the Thai GP.

Ducati battle lines will be drawn in opening round

Prior to Martin’s latest injury, the biggest storyline coming into this weekend’s opening round of the 2025 season was Ducati abandoning its GP25 engine in favour of last year’s version.

At the end of testing, it seemed like Ducati would also start the year on the 2024 chassis and aero package as it looks to evaluate those at the post-Spanish GP test at the end of April. Given it gave up Martin and Pramac to bring Marc Marquez to its factory team, Ducati effectively starting the year on an old bike doesn’t look great.

But, as the marque has pointed out, there are 2025 updates on the bike that put it apart from the GP24s and the ceiling is probably higher once it tests the new chassis and aero again.

And none of that stopped Marquez from turning heads at Buriram. He topped both days of the test and put in a race simulation on the final day that will have put a bit of fear into his rivals coming into the opening round of the campaign.

As Marquez looked strong, Francesco Bagnaia spent much of the Buriram test chasing his tail and comes into the Thai GP on the back foot.

Though Marquez has pegged Bagnaia as favourite to win this weekend, there are few who believe him. Thailand will likely set the tone for their rivalry, with first blood for either going to be an important psychological boost.

Two struggling MotoGP champions poised to step back into the limelight

The plight of MotoGP’s Japanese manufacturers has been well-documented over the last few years, but 2024 felt like rock bottom for both Honda and Yamaha.

Neither managed a single podium all season, while Honda didn’t even crack 100 points in the constructors’ standings as both of its factory team riders finished at the bottom of the championship.

Of the two, Yamaha looked like the one making the most progress as Max Bartolini’s influence as technical director took hold. During winter testing, the M1 looked in much better shape, with one-lap speed and race pace genuinely solid.

Such has been the form of Yamaha, and Fabio Quartararo in particular, that Ducati even touted them as rivals. Quartararo, the 2021 world champion, has gone without victories for two years now but has committed to Yamaha until at least the end of 2026.

That faith in the project looks to be bearing fruit, with the Frenchman in a good place to start the season off strongly.

For Honda, things can’t really get any worse but the steps it has made with its RC213V show that it’s on the right path back to where it wants to go. Joan Mir’s time with the Japanese marque has been torrid, but he noted after the Buriram test that it was the first time he’d ever felt genuinely competitive on the bike since joining the brand in 2023.

Ending the Buriram test sixth overall and also putting in a good sprint simulation, the Mir that won the 2020 world champion appears to be on the up again. Honda still needs to find more power from its engine, but circuits where that won’t be a major issue in the early stages of the year could really play into its favour with its more agile bike.

Both Quartararo and Mir getting to the podium in Thailand is unlikely, but the prospect of a good result is still strong.

First-time winner is a real possibility in Thailand opener

The first round of a new season, in many ways, is the most level a field can be - not least with almost everyone having two days of testing at Buriram ahead of this year’s Thai GP.

As a result, first-time winners have not been an uncommon sight on the opening day of a season. Enea Bastianini tallied up his first grand prix win at the 2022 Qatar GP, while Fabio Quartararo got his at the start of the COVID-delayed 2020 season at the Spanish GP.

Two names stand out after testing in 2025 as being able to snatch their first wins at the opening round of the year.

Alex Marquez topped the Barcelona test on his Gresini-run GP24, did so again at Sepang and was close to making it a clean sweep at Buriram before his brother Marc stretched his legs. But the younger Marquez brother has looked strong, both over one lap and on race pace, throughout the winter.

The step to the GP24 clearly suits Alex Marquez’s riding style and many have him as a favourite to challenge for victory this weekend.

He’ll have stiff opposition from another name looking to breach the top step of the podium for the first time, though. Pedro Acosta came close in his rookie season on several occasions, with the paddock feeling like it’s only a matter of time before the KTM rider becomes MotoGP’s newest winner.

KTM’s winter has been hard to read, but Acosta has clearly lost none of his speed and put the RC16 at the sharp end of the Buriram test. Race distance remains a question mark after some extreme tyre wear was spotted during Acosta’s race run.

But this is a rider who continually defied expectations over his rookie campaign. If anyone can overcome bike limitations, it’s Acosta.

Exciting MotoGP rookie crop ready to make their mark

It’s been a few years since MotoGP has had multiple rookies stepping into the class, with 2025 welcoming three new faces to the grid.

Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer was the first confirmed to be moving to MotoGP before the previous season had even started - the young Spaniard signing a factory deal with Ducati. Aldeguer stormed Moto2 in 2023, but a lacklustre 2024 campaign in the intermediate class cast some doubt over the kind of rider Ducati had signed for MotoGP.

The pre-season has been solid for Aldeguer, though, with the Gresini rider impressing with his one-lap pace and his race running. On the best bike on the grid, there is an expectation for Aldeguer to be top rookie this year but he’s so far showing that he is settling into the class, helped by having ex-Marc Marquez and Joan Mir crew chief Frankie Carchedi alongside him.

Reigning Moto2 champion Ai Ogura also turned heads and impressed paddock insiders over the winter as he adapts to the Aprilia at Trackhouse Racing. His is a tougher task, arguably, than Aldeguer’s as Ogura will have to help develop the RS-GP over the year.

But from what we’ve seen of the pair so far, rookie of the year will be an exciting battle.

The third rookie, Somkiat Chantra, will energise the Thai crowd this weekend as the country’s first ever MotoGP rider. But the task ahead of him is unenviable, as he gets set to race the difficult Honda in 2025.

Chantra has been a step behind his rookie rivals throughout the winter, but as the Honda improves, so should the Thai rider’s form.