Our snapshot of the MotoGP weekend in Losail (Qatar), before history was made in the desert state on race Sunday. On April 13, 2025, motorcycle road racing experienced one of its darkest moments from a sporting perspective. The blame lies with senseless regulations from a supreme motorsport authority obsessed with control.

When sport becomes a secondary matter

When the FIM introduced what we consider to be completely pointless so-called track limits in MotoGP and WorldSBK, many fans were already wondering what the point was. Back in 2019, we feared that the long-lap penalty rule, which came into effect at the same time to punish riders’ infractions, would not be good for the sport. Formula 1 served as a dubious example, and WorldSBK was also affected. This prompted countless incorrect decisions by the autocratic FIM commissioners, several of which we have reported on on this site. Far too often, there were cases in which certain riders went unpunished while others were heavily fined for identical alleged offenses. But things got even worse when the desk-bound operatives at the highest motorsport authority even introduced a so-called tire pressure limit for the 2024 season. Yamaha figurehead Fabio Quartararo was one of the most prominent victims of this nonsense at Jerez de la Frontera that same year. KTM test rider Dani Pedrosa inherited the Frenchman’s third place in the sprint race, despite only finishing fourth.

Jerez de la Frontera at the European MotoGP season opener in the Tissot Sprint Race on Saturday, with Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) ahead of Red Bull KTM test and reserve rider Dani Pedrosa. The speedy Frenchman had the Jerez specialist from Sabadell, Catalonia, under control until the finish and rightly celebrated his sensational result with his team. But the FIM stewards stole it from them shortly thereafter. The decision is completely incomprehensible, especially from a sporting perspective, and therefore simply annoying.

When reports and result sheets become worthless

As reporters, we were often annoyed that our articles were rendered worthless by incidents like the one on April 27, 2024, due to the unfortunately unchallengeable actions of the FIM. Official results published by Dorna and the FIM shortly after the races were no longer valid just hours after their publication. Five years before the scandalous decision that cost Quartararo his hard-fought third place, we witnessed a similarly irritating drama for fans of two-wheel racing at the beautiful track in Andalusia, of all places. While Spaniard Bautista won convincingly ahead of Yamaha ace Van der Mark on the newly introduced MotoGP Replica Ducati Panigale V4R, which was far superior to the competition, dramatic scenes unfolded behind the scenes. During Johnny Rea’s overtaking maneuver on third-placed Alex Lowes (Yamaha), the record world champion found himself in trouble on the final corner and went off the line. With no malicious intent, he naturally pushed the Englishman to the outside, causing him to crash. Although Lowes stated in a post-race interview that he didn’t blame Rea, the FIM imposed a double penalty late that evening. They relegated the Kawasaki ace to fourth place behind Melandri, and even worse, in Sunday morning’s sprint race, Saturday’s pole sitter had to start from last place on the grid.

Our photo of the top four WorldSBK riders in the first race at Jerez on June 8, 2019, with, from left, winner Alvaro Bautista (Ducati), Michael van der Mark (Yamaha, P2), Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki, third at the finish), and fourth-placed Marco Melandri (Yamaha). The latter benefited from a penalty imposed on the Northern Irishman hours later and was thus classified third. Since Rea had publicly criticized the FIM in the press some time earlier, one of the many acts of revenge by its commissioners.

Qatar’s Black Sunday

Even though we, along with many fans, were able to celebrate the sensational performance of another masterful Marc Marquez on April 13, 2025, this day became one of the darkest chapters in the history of motor racing. The real sensation of the race was not the dominant victory of the exceptional Catalan rider with the 93, although many so-called experts had previously labeled him an underdog. Rather, it was the unexpected exploit of Red Bull KTM Tech 3 newcomer Maverick Viñales, who even led for a long time and ultimately crossed the finish flag in a sensational second place, beaten only by Marquez. But the joy of the Spaniard, born near the French border in Figueres, and of the Orange team only lasted a few hours. The absurd tire pressure regulation, which gave wildcard rider Pedrosa third place instead of Quartararo at Jerez de la Frontera the previous year, proved fatal to the fastest KTM of the day this time. Fourteenth place instead of a podium finish was the result of the black Sunday in Qatar. From a sporting perspective, it was a debacle before the race continues in Jerez.

Maverick Viñales was the surprise winner of the 2024 US Grand Prix in Texas for Aprilia. It was his third triumph for a different manufacturer, having previously won for Suzuki and Yamaha. At Losail, he led for part of the race on the Tech 3 KTM and ultimately crossed the finish line in second place behind a once again outstanding Marc Marquez (Ducati). However, the efforts of KTM newcomer Viñales did not pay off, as he reportedly exceeded the prescribed tire pressure limit for over 60% of his race – what a bad joke!

Our consequence – boycott of races and sports reports

Due to the poor performance since 2019, our visits to MotoGP events became increasingly rare. But we also felt that reporting on them was often pointless when results are far too often falsified by the FIM’s high-handed and completely unsportsmanlike decisions. We had actually planned a review of the fourth round of the Motorcycle World Championship in Qatar, but we lost interest after the senseless punishment handed out to Maverick. Looking back, Marc Marquez’s prudent approach at the Grand Prix of Thailand in Buri Ram deserves special mention. The Catalan rider took the warning display in the cockpit of his Lenovo Ducati very seriously during the race and deliberately allowed himself to drop back to second place behind his brother Alex. However, shortly before the finish, he took his lead and won convincingly. A completely frustrated Francesco Bagnaia, who finished third afterward, said that Marc had only been playing with the other riders, although the Italian was completely wrong. Nevertheless, in motorcycle racing, riders shouldn’t be expected to pay attention to their tire pressure during their extremely risky rides. We certainly disavow such nonsense and refrain from publishing results that are so unsportingly falsified, as in the case of the Qatar Grand Prix. We have already canceled most of our planned trips to the races and will content ourselves with observing the action from afar until the regulations are changed. This saves a lot of money and stress, especially in MotoGP.

Geoff Duke – a superstar in the premier class of the 1950s and one of the first victims of senseless and, above all, highly unsportsmanlike actions by the FIM. For more on this, see our article on the 1956 Grand Prix year, with the following link:

GP year 1956 – part 1 – MotoRacers

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).