The 2025 MotoGP season begins this weekend with the Thai Grand Prix, with many intriguing plot points to follow as the cಌ📖ampaign 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 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖🐬结果历史:the absence of reigning champ𓆉ion Jorge Martin, who - after missing all of testing due to injury - suffered a complex fracture to his left hand on Monday while trainin𓆏g.

The new 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:factory Aprilia rider will be absent indefinitely, leaving the Noale marque to start the seaso🔜n without its star acquisition.

Ducati looks like it remains the manufacturer to beat in 2025, not least with 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Marc Marquez joinin꧑g its factory squad and dominating the final day♊ of the Buriram test.

The intra-team dynamic between Marquez and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Francesco Bagnaia is one being watched with great anticipation, with fallout predicted between the pair after their on-trac🎃k 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 𝓀to begin their journeys in the premier class.

Here a🧸re five storyline to watch out for at the ও2025 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 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Jorge Martin and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Trackhouse Racing’s 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Raul Fernandez - the marque’s only rider with prior knowledge of the R🦋S-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 lap♑s on the RS-GP ไsince 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 April🌼ia was a major coup for the manufacturer, a🌜s 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 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: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 ꦑthird overall at the Buriram test and putting in an impressive sprint simulation on th🥀e last day.

Tဣhere 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 bi🔯ggest 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 test𒈔s the new chassis and aero again.

And none of that st🍸opped 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, F𒀰rancesco 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 favourit🌠e 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 p♎odium 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, Yama⛄ha 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 genuin🌠ely solid.

Such has been the form of Yamaha, and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Fabio Quartararo in particular, that Ducati even touted the🙈m 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 l♉ooks to be bearing fruit, with the Frenchman in a goo🔴d 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. 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Joan Mir’s time with the Japanese marque has bee𝓡n torrid, but he noted after the Buriram test that it was the first time he’d ever felt genuinely c🐈ompetitive 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 f💞ind more power from its engine, but circuits where that won’t be a major issue in the earꩵly 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 goo🐈d result is still strong.

First-time winner is a real possibility in Thailand opener

The first ꦓround 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 snᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚatchꦕ their first wins at the opening round of the year.

Alex Marquez topped the Barcelona test o🐟n his Gresini-run GP24, did so again at Sepang and was close to making it a clean sweep at Buriram before his bro💞ther 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 cha🐼llenge 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 ride✃r becomes MotoGP’s newest winner.

KTM’s winter has been hard to read, but Acosta ha📖s 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 wearಞ was spotted during Acosta’s race run.

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

Exciting MotoGP rookie crop ready to make their mark

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

Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer was the first confirmed to be movingꦉ 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 ha🐷d signed for MotoGP.

The pre-season has been solid for Aldeg𝓰uer, 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 impr🗹essed paddock insiderไs 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 Chan💛tra, 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 hi♐s rookie rivals throughout the winter, but as the Honda improves, so should the Thai rider’s form.