Bagnaia's bitter end
On Saturday, Francesco Bagnaia ran out of fuel in qualifying. This put him at the very back of the grid, increasing the likelihood of problems. Those problems came on Sunday: Johann Zarco tapped Bagnaia, causing him to slide out of the track and into the gravel. With that, his race was over and a difficult season ended on a painful note.
Aprilia breaks through at various circuits
Marco Bezzecchi won the Valencia race, with Raul Fernandez second. For Aprilia, it marked the third Grand Prix win in four races for riders on the RS-GP. Fernandez and Bezzecchi were previously fast in Australia and Portimao, circuits with long, flowing corners that suited the RS-GP's qualities well. That the Aprilia now also performs at the tight and slow Valencia shows that the machine has become more competitive on more types of circuits.
Speed was not only evident in the hands of Bezzecchi and Fernandez. Ai Ogura set the fastest time in practice on Saturday on the second Trackhouse Racing RS-GP. For the Fernandez family, the weekend was completed when Adrian Fernandez also won the Moto3 race.
Martin returns, but on restrictions
Jorge Martin made his comeback at Valencia. Since his injury in Japan, he had only ridden a scooter and his doctors gave him strict instructions: don't crash. Martin treated the weekend as a test and held back. Yet in the race he was only eight tenths slower than race winner and teammate Bezzecchi, before finishing the race early.
KTM struggles with rear wheel spin
KTM factory riders Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder reported that the RC16 continued to suffer from rear wheel spin at Valencia. This was clearly evident during practice sessions: Acosta left black streaks across the road surface at the kink of turn nine, while other machines kept grip and rode on. Binder said all KTMs at full lean had the rear wheel spinning, and that spin continued when riders put the bikes back vertical and pulled up. Acosta held firm against Fabio Di Giannantonio for a long time, but with two laps to go Di Giannantonio posted an overtaking move and took his second podium of the weekend.
End of MotoGP places for Chantra and Oliveira
Rookie Somkiat Chantra could never really settle down on the Honda RC213V, scoring just seven points this season. Miguel Oliveira, once a five-time MotoGP winner, missed several races due to injuries. When he did ride, he did so on the Yamaha YZR-M1, a machine that barely made it to the podium this year even with former champion Fabio Quartararo. Both Chantra and Oliveira will lose their MotoGP seats and move to World Superbike in 2026. At Valencia, they finished 17th and 11th in their last Grand Prix race.
Honda ends season positively in Moto3
Honda did have something to celebrate in Moto3. Adrian Fernandez won the Valencia race and Taiyo Furusato finished third. For the Fernandez family, it was a great weekend with wins in several classes.
- Bagnaia's race end after contact with Zarco
- Aprilia scores three wins in four races
- KTM seeks solutions to rear wheel spin
- Martin returned under medical restrictions
- Chantra and Oliveira leave MotoGP for WorldSBK
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