MotoGP has broken up for the summer, with Marc Marquez on course to secure his seventh riders’ title in 2025 and rumours about Jorge Martin’s future at Aprilia over.
The two Spaniards have hogged the headlines throughout the 2025 MotoGP season for very different reasons. Marquez and Martin were always likely to be the talk of the paddock after Ducati snubbed promoting the latter to name the former as Francesco Bagnaia’s teammate.
Marquez and Ducati have so far been a match made in heaven, with the 32-year-old winning eight of the first 12 Grands Prix and 11 Sprint Races this year. He also boasts seven poles and tops the riders’ standings on 381 points ahead of his brother, Gresini’s Alex Marquez on 261.
But while Marquez has justified Ducati’s decision to sign him for their factory line-up, Martin spent most of the year trying to get out of his Aprilia contract while on the sidelines through injury. The defending riders’ champion only contested two of the first 12 rounds of the term.
Martin tried and failed to get out of his contract with Aprilia to join Honda, having inserted a release clause in his two-year deal that could free him after 2025. But Martin surrendered to staying at Aprilia in 2026, as the team successfully argued that his injuries voided the clause.
Now, how Martin will perform for Aprilia over the second half of the season is one of the big talking points for the rest of 2025. But the 27-year-old will not be the only rider to watch out for in the final 10 rounds once MotoGP returns at the Austrian Grand Prix on August 15-17…
How will Jorge Martin perform with Aprilia once fully fit after his injury nightmares?
Martin will, obviously, be one rider to watch out for over the remainder of the 2025 season, however. Marquez expects Martin will fight for race wins in 2025 following his return at the Czech Grand Prix, but the 27-year-old may need time to fully adapt to the Aprilia RS-GP25.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Jorge Martin from net worth to girlfriend
Brno saw Martin make only his second Grand Prix start for Aprilia, having missed the seven rounds prior after breaking 11 ribs and suffering a hemopneumothorax in Qatar. He also sat out the first three rounds of 2025 after breaking his left hand in a pre-season training crash.
Martin believes Aprilia’s bike is ‘much better’ than when he crashed in Qatar, but questions persist over how long it will take until the Spaniard can join his teammate Marco Bezzecchi fighting for race wins. Martin is still not yet at full fitness and will need time on his RS-GP25.
Brad Binder must bounce back after being dominated by Pedro Acosta at KTM
Brad Binder is very much a KTM rider, having represented the Austrian squad since the 2015 Moto3 season. But the 2025 MotoGP season has so far seen Pedro Acosta show the South African up after the Spaniard moved into the factory KTM line-up from Tech3 this season.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Brad Binder from career stats to wife
Acosta is the highest-scoring KTM rider so far this term on 124 points ahead of Tech3 pilot Maverick Vinales on 69 and Binder on 68. The 21-year-old also scored KTM’s only podium this term with Acosta’s P3 in the Czech GP, where he even achieved P2 in the Sprint Race.
Binder has not finished higher than the P6 he earned in the Spanish Grand Prix during round five of the 12 staged this term. Additionally, Binder thought his career would ‘look a hell of a lot different’ than it does now when he won his first of only two Grands Prix at Brno in 2020.
So, the 29-year-old will be desperate to bounce back after the summer break and show KTM that he can not only battle Acosta but lead the Austrian squad going forward. Binder has not won a Grand Prix since the 2021 Austrian GP and has not taken a podium in his last 30 races.
Can Somkiat Chantra show Honda enough to earn another contract with LCR for 2026?
Ai Ogura made Honda look elsewhere to fulfil their commitment to Idemitsu to run an Asian rider at their satellite team LCR after the 2024 Moto2 champion chose to move into MotoGP with Trackhouse. Ultimately, Somkiat Chantra was the next name on Honda’s list to join LCR.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Somkiat Chantra from career to height
But since Chantra made history as the first Thai rider to compete in MotoGP, the 26-year-old has not justified his presence in the premier class paddock. The Chonburi native is only 26th in the riders’ standings with one point, putting him above Honda’s test rider Aleix Espargaro.
Espargaro even gifted Chantra his only point to date, when he let the LCR rider overtake him in the Dutch Grand Prix at Assen. So, Honda executives are open to putting a non-Asian rider in the LCR seat Chantra holds next year, with the Thai only on a factory contract for this year.
Brazilian Moto2 ace Diogo Moreira could be the man to take Chantra’s place if Honda decide to scrap their commitment to LCR’s title sponsor, Idemitsu. It is said that Honda have already decided that Moreira would replace Chantra to thwart Aprilia, Ducati and Yamaha’s interest.
Joan Mir must catch a break after retiring from eight of the first 12 Grands Prix of 2025
Honda may even have a decision to make regarding Joan Mir, depending on his results in the second half of 2025. The 27-year-old is enduring a year he will want to forget quickly, having retired from eight of the first 12 Grands Prix after failing to finish 10 of his 19 races last term.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Joan Mir from net worth to career stats
Such has been his struggle this season that reports have also now emerged that Honda may terminate Mir’s contract for 2026 if the Spaniard’s results do not improve. Johann Zarco has scored 109 points for LCR and Luca Marini has earned 52 for Honda, but Mir only boasts 32.
Mir crashed after running inside the top 10 during the Grands Prix in Thailand, America and Jerez. But the Honda rider’s retirements have not always been his own fault, and many have shown how the 2020 champion just needs to catch a break to enjoy a big result this season.
Palma native Mir was an innocent victim of Enea Bastianini crashing into Bagnaia at the start of the French GP, when the Honda racer had nowhere to go with Zarco to his right when the Ducati rider fell at Turn 2 upon being hit by the KTM Tech 3 pilot as MotoGP visited Le Mans.
A series of unfortunate events have plagued his campaign, as Trackhouse’s Ogura wiped Mir out during the German GP after the rookie misjudged an overtake into Turn 1. Gresini’s Alex Marquez wiped Mir out during the Czech GP with a rookie error by the sixth-year rider, too.
