MotoGP

Marc Márquez is reborn as MotoGP world champion

The Catalan finished second in the Japanese Grand Prix, securing his seventh title in the premier class.

Marc Márquez hugging the Moto GP world champion trophy.
28/09/2025
3 min

BarcelonaMarc Márquez's career will always be marked by his July 2020 crash at Jerez. His bike launched him off the road, and the impact with the asphalt was violent. The inertia battered him, sending him into somersaults, his body spinning out of control. After the marshals assisted him, the Catalan rider sat down on the first plastic chair he found outside the danger zone. His movements before removing his helmet already suggested an injury, but no one imagined it was the beginning of a cruel period that would nearly end his career. He had broken his right humerus. At first glance, a minor injury. But it required four operations and ruined three seasons.

Five years and two months have passed since that crash, and this Sunday Marc Márquez, at 32 years old, was crowned MotoGP world champion for the seventh time in Motegi (Japan), the same number of championships as Valentino Rossi and one less than Giacomo Agostini's record. His rebirth has been confirmed as one of the historical epics in the world of sport.

Marc needed to score six points less than his brother Àlex to tie the title, but he finished ahead of him again (second and sixth) in a very comfortable race in which he didn't need to take any risks. The start was clean, with no incidents. Marc held onto third place and Àlex eighth. Just like in the sprint race, Pecco Bagnaia, having his best weekend of the year, took advantage of the opportunity. pole position to open up a gap from the start, and no one has been able to follow him. Not even Pedro Acosta from second place.

The situation continued until 13 laps from the finish, when Marc overtook Acosta. But by then Bagnaia had already built up a three-and-a-half-second lead, which was enough despite the worrying white smoke pouring from his exhaust pipe. Behind him, Àlex was unable to move past sixth place. The final podium spot went to Balearic Islander Joan Mir, who demonstrated a performance reminiscent of his past on his Honda.

Marc's best decision

Leaving Honda, the bike he rode to win his first six MotoGP World Championships, became the best decision Marc could have made in the second half of his racing career. Injuries (along with a humerus injury, he also suffered diplopia and other limb problems) were the beginning of his misfortune, but when he began to recover, his performance was limited by the instability of a Honda that repeatedly threw him to the ground. In the 2023 World Championship, Marc crashed 19 times. "I don't want to remember; I want to enjoy the moment. I wanted to come back too soon, but I fought and now I feel at peace," Marc confessed, through tears, after becoming world champion.

The signs of rebirth didn't come until 2024, when he signed for the Ducati Gresini satellite team, with his brother Àlex as his teammate. In Aragón, he won another race after 1,043 days without one and finished third in the World Championship, behind Jorge Martín and Bagnaia. His performance led the official Ducati team to select him over Martín, despite his world title, for this year.

Marc Márquez celebrating his title with Ducati.

Marc has won the 2025 MotoGP World Championship with five Grands Prix to spare, thanks to 11 Sunday victories and 14 of 17 Saturday victories. "You don't normalize it and you experience it from an extraordinary point of view, but during the year you don't celebrate it with the same intensity," a person close to the Catalan told ARA about what it's like to almost always be first. "It's part of the demand. You go to each Grand Prix knowing that the goal is to win," he added. The intensity of the celebration of this seventh World Championship in the premier class and the ninth overall after the rebirth will be another matter. Motegi and Cervera should tremble. "This isn't just motorsports history, this is sporting history!" Marc's entourage declares.

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