For the 13th time in 14 rounds, Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) is a Tissot Sprint winner after avoiding a dose of Turn 1 drama to continue his magnificent victory streak in 2025. Fabio Di Giannantonio took P2, two seconds away from Marquez, and joining the Italian on the Saturday rostrum was Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing teammate Franco Morbidelli.
TURN 1 DRAMA
Marc Marquez got a lovely launch from pole position and led into Turn 1, but Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), from P6 on the grid, got it properly wrong in the braking zone on the inside line. The Frenchman was too late on the anchors and collided with Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), who managed to stay on the bike, but Quartararo didn’t. The incident cost Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) time too, which dropped the Italian to the lower ends of the top 10, while an unlucky Bastianini was P18.
ANOTHER LAP 1 TALKING POINT
Then, there was another incident. This time at Turn 9 and it again involved Bastianini. This time, the ‘Beast’ was at fault as an audacious move on Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) failed, leaving both down and out of the Tissot Sprint on Lap 1.
Post race, both Quartararo and Bastianini were handed penalties for the above points. The #20 has one Long Lap penalty because that's his first offence, while the #23 has a double Long Lap penalty because it's a second offence.
MARC LEADS, ACOSTA CRASHES
So where did that leave us? Marc Marquez led from the VR46 duo, with Di Giannantonio the lead rider in the yellow corner. On Lap 5, the Italian was 1.1s away from the #93, with Morbidelli over a second down on his teammate. Fourth was Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), while Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) sat half a second behind the HRC star, and just under a second clear of the second factory HRC rider Joan Mir.
On Lap 6 of 13, Pedro Acosta’s (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) Sprint then ended with a small crash at Turn 11 while he was attempting to pass Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) in a battle for P10. That signalled a disappointing Saturday for Friday’s pacesetter in Hungary.
For the remainder of the Sprint, Marc Marquez remained untroubled to continue his unbeaten run, as Di Giannantonio kept teammate Morbidelli at bay as the VR46 duo collected silver and bronze medals at Balaton Park.
BALATON’S SPRINT POINTS SCORERS
From P9 on the grid, Marini defended and rode brilliantly to keep Aldeguer behind him to earn his best HRC Sprint result in P4, as the latter just about held onto P5 ahead of Mir and the recovering Bezzecchi. Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) was eighth across the line as he gets set to face a three-place grid penalty in tomorrow’s Grand Prix, and the last point on offer on Saturday went to reigning World Champion Martin in P9.
Another one pocketed. Marc Marquez marches on, as a dramatic Tissot Sprint unfolds in Hungary. 26 laps are coming up at Balaton on Sunday afternoon, and the question is: can anyone stop the title race leader from winning again?
MotoGP Tissot Sprint results from Hungary!