Maverick Viñales 2025 MotoGP Qatar Sunday – Photo: KTM Factory Racing
MotoGP 2025 – Round 04 of 22, Lusail International Circuit, Qatar – Race
The MotoGP Red Bull KTM crews ended their important overseas development stage of 2025 with a season-best performance as Maverick Viñales led, fought for the win and passed the checkered flag as runner-up at the spectacular Lusail International Circuit. The 23rd Grand Prix on the Qatari asphalt ended a phase of testing and races that has included laps and competition in Malaysia, Thailand, Argentina and the USA and allows both the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and Red Bull KTM Tech3 teams to now focus on the European leg of the campaign that will run until September.
- Maverick Viñales makes the podium in P2 in his fourth GP in orange but a tire pressure penalty gives him 14th an hour after the race
- Pedro Acosta finds his preferred setting for the KTM RC16 and rediscovers his strength on braking. The Spaniard takes a top ten result in 9th
- Enea Bastianini recovers well after starting from 20th on the grid and ends the 22 laps in 12th as Brad Binder launches from P18 on the grid and pushes back to 14th
- Moto3™ positivity for KTM GP Academy ace Jose Antonio Rueda who fights for victory again until fate intervenes with a DNF while Deniz Öncü scores 2nd and a career-best in Moto2™
MotoGP went under the spotlight for round four and the annual trip to the Lusail International Circuit for the sole night race on the Grand Prix slate. Promising qualifying potential saw Maverick Viñales and Pedro Acosta straight into Q2 and although both missed out on Sprint points Saturday evening as the KTM squads experimented with optimum feeling and tire data, there was more optimism for all four riders for Sunday’s contest.
The grid lights vanished but the big track lights stayed on for the 22-lap MotoGP spin and Viñales went center stage. Maverick hovered on the edge of the top four and took advantage of changing pace to conserve his tire potential. He hit the front midway and then maintained consistency to jet across the line with a very worthy P2: his first silverware of the season and his first in Red Bull orange. Sadly, a tire pressure sanction was then applied post-race and a 16 second penalty added, allocating Viñales with 14th. Acosta was trading track space mid-pack but then set his sights on further progression and reached the top seven at one stage. #37 eventually made it home in 9th, later adjusted to 8th.
Enea Bastianini’s customary Sunday charge produced P12 for the Italian (moved to P11). Two slots in front of Brad Binder who battled all race long but could not find the grip he needed to advance up the order. All the KTM RC16s grabbed points in Qatar.
2025 MotoGP now reverts to the central continent. The atmospheric Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto will host the Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks’ time and will be followed by the first one-day IRTA test.
Maverick Viñales, 14th and 18th in the championship standings:“At a certain point of the race I thought I could go for the victory and even pulled away a bit…but we have to be very happy with the progress and all the steps we are doing. We are working in a good way and we need to enjoy these moments. What we did today was unbelievable. We put the bike right there and we showed we had the speed: we had showed it in many practice sessions but we had to put it in the race. We must be happy and pleased and this is the start. I want to congratulate the team because they are working really calmly and with a lot of positive thoughts and that’s what we need.”
Pedro Acosta, 8th and 11th in the championship standings: “Much better. An acceptable race. I started far off and was 14th. It was not easy to come back but I had the same feeling as last year and no chatter. When we don’t have problems we can be very fast. Happy. It was very nice to ride the bike like this. We know Maverick is super-talented and he started 6th and all the small details count. He made a really nice race.”
Enea Bastianini, 11th and 13th in the championship standings: “It’s getting better. From Friday until now I was more competitive. It was quite difficult to overtake riders in the race because if you try to do something more then I lost the line so I had to do the move again! The pace was good but I was also spinning a lot with the rear. The front feeling though was one of the best so far. Nice race. Maverick did a great job today.”
Brad Binder, 13th and 12th in the championship standings: “Not much better today. It was tough. We tried to change some set-up in the race and it felt quite decent until about ten laps when I started to have massive understeer and I was spinning a lot on the tire. With five laps to go the rear was toasted. It was a really tricky weekend and my guys tried so many things to help me be comfortable. It was super-good to see Maverick do so well and it will be good for us to see what he did differently and how we can learn from it.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “It has been a hard start to the season but I have to say that in Austin and also in Qatar we have taken steps forward. It is important to take a positive result to keep the belief and the full motivation because in racing there are ups-and-downs. We saw this weekend that we are moving forward and I think when we are back in Europe we can do it again. Even though Saturday here was tough we kept our positive feelings for possible performance and today we proved that we are on the way with development, and that the riders are feeling better and more confident on the bike. The podium potential by Maverick is important for the whole KTM family and will give an extra boost to all those involved in the project. We will now push even harder. Unfortunately, we later had the tire pressure penalty but the rules are tight and this is part of racing. I still want to thank all the people for what they have done.”
Results MotoGP Grand Prix of Qatar
1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati 41:29.186
2. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati +4.535
3. Franco Morbidelli (ITA) Ducati +6.495
8. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +14.219
11. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +17.459
13. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +17.632
14. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +17.800
World Championship standings MotoGP
1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati, 123 points
2. Alex Marquez (ESP) Ducati, 106
3. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati, 97
11. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 24
12. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 22
13. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3, 21
18. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3, 8
KTM Factory Racing | Photos: KTM Factory Racing
