A 100th win, title drama and THAT fight for victory – the Grand Prix of Hungary delivered another dose of MotoGP action at Balaton Park. After a 266-day wait, Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) notched up a 100th career GP win, also marking a milestone for Ducati. But it was far from straightforward. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) pushed hard in pursuit of a first Sunday victory, ultimately settling for second. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) took third, rounding out a weekend of packed storyline and talking points!

"The comeback is still not finished"

Adding to his comeback story was Marc Marquez, earning his first win since the 2025 San Marino GP. Even the #93 didn’t think a win was on the cards ahead of the weekend, but once more, Marc Marquez did the unthinkable. The 2025 MotoGP World Champion delivered the Balaton double, adding confidence and leaving the weekend with an extra 37 points!

Marc Marquez: "There have been a lot of ups and downs in my career, especially since 2020, but 100 wins is a big number. When you check pole position numbers, Championship numbers, I’m there between, close, in front, behind some big names and legends. I’ve done more than I expected in my career, and it’s been a lot of mental work. For that reason, I said that I've always pushed myself, but now it’s time to have more passion, and in Mugello, it was seventh, so we celebrated seventh place.

"When a fighter meets another fighter, the battle is there. We know that Pedro is super aggressive and is hard on braking; it was on the limit, we made contact like two or three times, but always with the correct amount of space.

"Another comeback, the comeback is still not finished because we won, but it was mainly left corners, there are only three right corners with hard braking points, which helped me breathe. But it’s true that we made another comeback and won again and took the 37 points."

"We will try again in Brno!"

It was unlucky 13 for Pedro Acosta, with the KTM star unable to convert his weekend-long pace into a first Sunday premier class victory. The search may continue, but Acosta entertained, scrapping with Marc Marquez in what was THE battle of the weekend. The pair went head-to-head, trading paint and proving that Acosta remains hungry as he made it 13 MotoGP podium finishes without victory.

Acosta: "Quite happy, today we were much more competitive compared to yesterday. I’m happy about the performance; it’s true that we were missing a bit to try and maintain Marc’s pace, but it’s also true that the tyre strategy was the complete opposite. Anyway, we have to be happy as we put on a good show for the fans with some good passes, and I think everyone can see that I never gave up. We will try again in Brno!

"When he passed me, he just went away, but there were some good moves and some good comebacks, and it was just experience for myself."

"He was apologising to everybody"

There was drama from lights out, with an incident involving Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing), Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), Raul Fernandez (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team) and Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) creating the headlines. Five riders went down at Turn 1, with Martin handed a double Long Lap for his next Grand Prix following the crash, as Massimo Rivola gave his verdict.

Rivola: "I spoke to Jorge very quickly; I was just listening more than speaking really. He was apologising to everybody. It is difficult to digest; I think a World Champion can’t make a mistake like that, but it’s done. I think it’s quite different to the mistake in Japan, as in Japan, he was too optimistic, and here he was not behaving properly with the front brake in the wrong part of the track.

"About the penalty, if we are speaking about the severity, I would not disagree if the penalty was stronger and harsher than that, as the first corner can be dangerous and these guys are already risking, and any extra risk is not necessary."

"I need to learn from Marc"

It was a third consecutive podium for Francesco Bagnaia, showing further signs of progress in 2026. The Italian took third, unable to match the pace of the leading pair, settling for solid points. However, there is still more to learn for Bagnaia as he looks towards his teammate Marc Marquez for the next areas of improvement.

Bagnaia: "Before the race, I knew that I might struggle here, as I know I have to improve on these tight corners, as it’s my weak point. I tried to improve, and I think we made a step compared to last year, as I had more feeling with the bike, but it’s still not enough. I need to learn from Marc and from those riders who are really strong on tight corners."

"It was a positive weekend for us"

Overall, it was a strong weekend for HRC with Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) and Diogo Moreira (Pro Honda LCR)  leaving the weekend as standout performers for the Japanese factory. Marini crossed the line in P5 with Moreira finishing in P6 respectively, as the pair leave Balaton Park with further positives ahead of our trip to Brno.

Marini: "The pace was good, I was riding well and managing the soft tyre because it was impossible for me to choose the medium rear because I didn’t have grip. So I preferred the soft and then to manage it during the race. Let’s keep the positives this weekend and take other opportunities in the future because at the moment there are other riders faster than us and we need to focus on our job and find every door which can open."

Moreira: "The weekend was super good for us, in the Sprint, and then today I was able to keep the pace. For me, I made a wrong decision with the tyre, but this is normal as I'm a rookie. We finished the race, which I think was super important here. The race was super long, but I was able to enjoy and keep the pace until the end, so it was a positive weekend for us, and we just need to keep it like this."