The weekend at the Cathedral of Speed is over, with a masterclass display from the reigning world champion, Pecco. A flawless performance in Saturday’s sprint race, followed by the same on Sunday, showed that Pecco is still the top man in the paddock. Luckily, the race had a bit more action than the slightly dull sprint on Saturday.

Saturday and Sunday highlighted the pure class at the top of the championship, with Jorge Martin and Pecco both untouchable by a huge margin. There are now only 10 points between them at the top of the championship, as Pecco closes down on the top spot by 5 points. Honestly, there isn’t much to analyse from both Pecco and Jorge; they both showed their experience and why either of them deserves a championship title.

Marc Marquez had a bit of a nightmare on Saturday, crashing out really early due to the curb. However, he managed to keep on his bike and finished in the top 5 in Sunday’s race, although this was short-lived as he was handed a 16-second penalty for his tire pressure. We will get to that in the next article.

Vinales delivered a solid race after a 3rd place podium in the sprint. Even he was astonished by the speed of the Ducatis in 1st and 2nd, admitting there was no way he could keep up with them. Throughout the race, Maverick was competing for 3rd before the late bloomer, Enea, came to claim the bronze. Unfortunately, a mistake on the last lap resulted in him being overtaken by both Marc and Digi with a few corners to go. He managed to gain a place back, although this was short-lived due to a track limits penalty. Equally confusing, it did not actually make much difference, as Marquez was pushed back to 10th with a 16-second penalty, moving Digi up to 4th and Maverick to 5th again.

Fabio Di Giannantonio had a strong weekend, yet again, showing why he should stay on the grid in 2025. He was very much in the mix for the battle for 3rd in the Sunday race before Enea stormed in and stole the show. Bastianini somehow came 3rd after starting from 10th place, which is very impressive. He always manages to save his tires and wakes up during the second half of the race; however, it is usually a bit too late to fight for the win. If only he were able to wake up on Saturday and qualify a bit higher up the grid, he might have had a chance at keeping his Ducati seat.

Towards the back of the pack, it was another weekend to forget for Honda, with Marini finishing dead last (+70 seconds behind the race leader), and Joan Mir not being able to wait till the end of the race to get off the bike. The highest placing Honda was over 40 seconds behind the leader, which is just astonishingly poor, with not much promise of any improvement anytime soon. But hey, at least they picked up 3 points. Quartararo was the only Yamaha to finish the race, taking home 4 points in their ‘testing season’. Unfortunately, Yamaha’s new engine did not offer any significant improvement; however, Fabio has claimed that it would be better suited for other tracks.