Marc Marquez’ arrival at the factory Lenovo Ducati Team was the biggest off-season talking points. Most pundits predicted his rivals wouldn’t see which way he went and, you know what? They were right!
The Spaniard, a six-time MotoGP world champion going into the season, won both the Sprint and Grand Prix at the opening two rounds to set the tone for his season. He wrapped the title up with five rounds to go, which was just as well as a collision with Marco Bezzecchi in Indonesia caused a serious shoulder injury and ended his year prematurely.
At 22 rounds, the 2025 championship was the longest in history and, with two races per round, there were plenty of other talking points on and off the track.
Horrible title defence for Jorge Martin
Having switched to Aprilia for his title defence, Jorge Martin had a horrible campaign. Injured in the pre-season, it wasn’t until we round four, in Qatar, when we saw the Spaniard attempt to defend his title. It was a short lived comeback though, as he crashed and was hit by a following rider – causing serious rib injuries.
The summer was marred by stories of Martin trying to get out of his Aprilia contract, but Bezzecchi proved the competitiveness of the RS-GP with a win at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The champ eventually got back in the saddle at round 12, the returning Czech Grand Prix at Brno, before picking up another injury – a broken collarbone – at round 17 in Japan. He returned for the final races in Valencia, but ended the season with a best finish of fourth and a lowly 21st in the final standings.
Bagnaia falls apart
If Martin’s title defence was unfortunate, his predecessor Francesco Bagnaia’s challenge was unfathomable.
The 2022 and 2023 champion started solidly enough and picked up his first win when team-mate Marc Marquez crashed out of the fourth Grand Prix in Texas. After that, it was an unpredictable rollercoaster ride for the factory Ducati rider.
An unspectacular mid-season was seemingly turned around with a dominant double win in Japan, which was in turn followed by five successive Grand Prix retirements (punctuated with a Sprint win in Malaysia) which pushed him down to fifth in the overall standings. Admittedly it wasn’t all his fault, but it was mystifying and no doubt very frustrating for Ducati bosses, who would expect better from anyone riding what is considered from the outside to be the best motorcycle in all of racing.
Alex Marquez best of the rest
Marc’s younger brother, Alex, was the best of the rest on his year-old Gresini Ducati. Second in each of the first six races, he was able to briefly lead the championship (by a sole point) following Marc’s retirement in Texas and he would pick up six wins, split equally between Grands Prix and Sprint races, to take a comfortable second in the standings. Bezzecchi was third overall come the end of the year, also bagging a trio of wins in both Grands Prix and Sprints.
Challenging year for KTM. Improvements for Japanese
KTM’s well documented financial woes over the winter months cast a shadow (and some doubt) over the company’s racing project. In the end, four KTMs lined up as planned, with 2024’s rookie sensation (and multiple champion in the lower classes) Pedro Acosta leading the charge. Acosta never quite managed to take victory on the Red Bull backed machine but was a regular feature on the podium in the second half of the season, as he charged through to fourth in the final championship table and easily the best of the KTM riders.
After years in the doldrums, Honda saw signs of improvement in 2025. Johann Zarco’s emotional win in the wet was the highlight in terms of results (and followed up with a fine second at a chaotic Silverstone next time out) but Joan Mir’s improving dry weather pace and two hard fought podiums towards the end of the season gives hope for 2026.
Yamaha had a tough 2025 campaign. The YZR-M1 remained the only inline four on the grid and looked outgunned on speed. Only the brilliance of 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo kept them remotely in the game. The Frenchman produced some sensational qualifying results and looked nailed on to win in Silverstone before his ride height device failed. The company’s V4 prototype appeared in the hands of test rider Augusto Fernandez during the year and they’ll be hoping that this can transform their fortunes in 2026.
In the supporting classes, Diogo Moreira became the first Brazilian to win a motorcycling world championship – overhauling Spain’s Manuel Gonzalez to take honours in the Moto2 series. Having led the opening two thirds of the season, Gonzalez was disqualified from second place for a technical infringement at the Indonesian round in early October and never stood on the podium again. Moreira moves to MotoGP with Honda in 2026, while Gonzalez starts as Moto2 title favourite.
Britain’s Jake Dixon was among the leading men in Moto2 again this year, leading the championship early on and winning three races, and although he was comfortably the top rider on the Boscoscuro chassis he was unable to match the consistency of the Kalex mounted riders. He finished the year fifth in the standings and will move on to World Superbikes after signing for the factory Honda team for 2026 and 2027.
In Moto3, Spanish talent Jose Antonio Rueda was a dominant champion. He took the title by 84 points despite missing the final three races as a result of a sickening crash on the warm up lap in Malaysia. Italy’s Alessandro Zaccone was the final MotoE champion, with the electric bike series being pulled after seven seasons.
Toprak rules in WorldSBK
Over in the Superbike World Championship, Toprak Razgatlioglu was again the dominant force, getting results out of his BMW when no other rider could. His battle with Ducati-mounted Nicolo Bulega was fierce at times, and the title went down to the last round in Jerez.
The pair were utterly dominant. Bulega finished first or second in every race he finished while his rival went on a 13-race unbeaten run in the middle of the season. The pair ended up 279 points ahead of third placed Alvaro Bautista with Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli, fourth in the standings, the only rider other than Razgatlioglu or Bulega to stand on top of the podium.
Toprak, now a three-time champion, moves on from world superbikes, joining Yamaha as they look to develop their new V4 in MotoGP, while the championship’s most successful rider of all-time will also be moving on. Jonathan Rea, a seven-time champion, had another challenging and injury hit year at Yamaha and will move on to a test rider role at Honda.
WorldSBK’s three support classes also provided plenty of entertainment. Yamaha’s new R9 was the bike to beat in World Supersport, with Stefano Manzi taking the title, while the last World Supersport 300 crown went to Benat Fernandez, who was riding a Chinese made Kove. That series will be replaced by a new ‘Sportbike’ championship for 2026, a championship which incorporates a diverse range of machinery, from 450cc Koves, to parallel twins like the Aprilia RS 660 and Suzuki GSX-8R and even Kawasaki’s 636cc ZX-6R.
The Women’s ‘WCR’ series had a very competitive sophomore year. The experienced Maria Herrera won the title but it wasn’t the easy ride many had expected. Fellow Spaniard Beatriz Neila took it to a last race decider, while young Brit Chloe Jones rightly won many fans as she came home third in a breakthrough season which saw her finish on the podium in six of the 12 rounds.
Kyle Rydes to victory
The 2025 British Superbike Championship proved an intriguing affair, with returning former champion Bradley Ray coming out of the blocks swinging to win 10 of the first 12 races. Defending champ Kyle Ryde hung in and made it count in the latter half of the year, when the points earned for each win increased, and he cruised home to win back-to-back titles.
It was another year of domination for Yamaha, with Ray and Ryde both mounted on R1s, although Ducati-powered Leon Haslam, Rory Skinner and Scott Redding all scored wins throughout the year. Redding, the 2019 champion, was a surprise mid-season addition to the series as he came in to replace the injured Glenn Irwin at PBM. Despite missing the first three rounds, he won seven rounds and finished the year fourth in the standings.
World endurance
The FIM World Endurance Championship once again served up plenty of drama over four races. BMW were 30 minutes away from their first world title, when their M 1000 RR broke down and handed the title to YART Yamaha in the closing stages of the Bol d’Or. Different teams won each of the four races: YART took the season opener at Le Mans, FCC Honda won the 8-Hours of Spa, Honda’s factory team were victorious at home in Suzuka, while Yoshimura Suzuki triumphed at the season ending Bol d’Or.
Dunlop extends TT history
Michael Dunlop won four of the seven solo races at this year’s Isle of Man TT Races to extend his total number of career victories to 33. The most successful TT racer of all time was unstoppable in the smaller categories, but in the big bike classes Dean Harrison and his Honda Fireblade were imperious in Superstock, while Davey Todd won the opening Superbike TT.
Local heroes Ryan and Callum Crowe were unstoppable in the two Sidecar TTs, but it wouldn’t be the TT without some drama. Outright lap record holder Peter Hickman missed race week after crashing in practice, while the event-ending Senior TT was cancelled due to high winds.
Overall it was a packed season of racing, with more events than ever and plenty of drama. With some new names in the mix and some star riders swapping teams, we can’t wait to see what 2026 brings.
