Why is Bagnaia’s season going so badly?
Most people predicted that Marc Marquez’s arrival in the factory Ducati MotoGP team was going to be bad news for Pecco Bagnaia, but this bad?Ducati’s lead title hope for the last four seasons (and twice world champion for it) hasn’t beaten his new team-mate in a straight fight at all yet or even looked like doing so.Val Khorounzhiy and Matt Beer put Bagnaia’s disappointing 2025 form centre stage in the latest episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast.Is Bagnaia tinkering with the ‘GP25-ish’ too much searching for something that will prove impossible to find and does he just need to get on with riding it?Does Bagnaia now have to start thinking about a move away from Ducati?And is Fermin Aldeguer already poised to take his place? We let long-time Aldeguer advocate Val go suitably nuts about the Gresini rookie’s rise as he starts to prove Ducati right for committing to him so early.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more. Head to Patreon for 75% off your first month!Follow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and TwitterCheck out our latest videos on YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
19 Mai 54min
New Martin bombshell + MotoGP’s mad French GP
Use code 'THERACE' on this link to get the new Insta360 X5 action camera with a free Replacement Lens Kit: https://www.insta360.com/sal/x5?utm_term=THERACE&utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=TheRACE&utm_content=date20250419A3LaunchMotoGP’s French Grand Prix at Le Mans was a completely crazy race - but then even crazier news emerged the morning after.Here’s a special double episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast starting with Simon Patterson and Val Khorounzhiy on the bombshell news that Jorge Martin is seemingly looking for a way out of Aprilia having barely even raced for it.How that’s even possible, where he would go and what Aprilia would do are all debated in an emergency mini-episode recorded as Simon was about to get on a plane out of France.And then we’re onto the episode we actually planned to bring you - as Johann Zarco’s outstanding victory in MotoGP’s bizarre 2025 French Grand Prix gave Simon, Val and Matt Beer a LOT to debate.Has MotoGP underestimated a rider who just left Marc Marquez standing in wet conditions? Why did so many other riders who had the chance to match Zarco’s strategy choose not to?Did the new rules prompted by Marquez’s dash off the Austin grid work on their first appearance and was this actually a great race (Matt thinks so and Val sort of agrees) or a rubbish and processional non-spectacle? (Simon thinks so).Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more. Head to Patreon for 75% off your first month!Follow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and TwitterCheck out our latest videos on YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
12 Mai 1h 37min
Free preview: Looking ahead to the Isle of Man TT
Enjoy a free preview of the first episode of our mini series on the Isle of Man TT, available exclusively to members on Patreon.With a month to go until practice week gets underway, Megan White and Simon Patterson spoke to Paul Phillips, Head of Motorsport for the TT.He revealed some of the exciting new features fans can expect for this year, delved into the changing talent path of road racing, and revealed some crucial work the TT is doing around safety.Want to enjoy the whole episode and even more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon. Head to Patreon for 75% off your first month! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
9 Mai 10min
What's so unique about Quartararo's MotoGP situation
Is Fabio Quartararo the first truly elite MotoGP rider to be trapped in the series' midfield for as long as he has been?Host Valentin Khorounzhiy discusses this with Simon Patterson on the latest edition of The Race MotoGP Podcast, ahead of Quartararo's home race at Le Mans that comes on the heels of a best-in-years weekend at Jerez.The show also delves into Quartararo's decision to stay put at Yamaha for 2025, the chances of him doing so again in 2027 - and the question of whether his lack of championship opportunities as he enters his theoretical prime as a rider is weighing on him.Finally, Val and Simon talk about the rest of Yamaha's line-up, discussing whether Jack Miller should count on a 2026 extension, whether Alex Rins's disappointing-so-far Yamaha tenure is likely to improve and whether it would make sense for Yamaha to try to bring in Toprak Razgatlioglu.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more. Head to Patreon for 75% off your first month! Follow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and Twitter Check out our latest videos on YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
6 Mai 44min
The problems even Ducati has to solve
Ducati’s 100% win rate in the 2025 MotoGP world championship masks the fact it’s not actually ever managed to race its full 2025 bike spec, its superstar new signing has crashed in confusing circumstances in two of the last three grands prix and its double champion is a tentative and puzzled shadow of his best form right now because he’s not ever quite sure what to expect from his bike’s handling.So what’s Ducati been working on to solve Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia’s problems? A hungry and tired Simon Patterson in a very dark Spanish hotel room joins Matt Beer on The Race MotoGP Podcast to discuss everything that happened in Monday’s test and what it means for the rest of the season.As well as Ducati’s issues and Marquez and Bagnaia’s contrasting handling of them, we also get into potentially significant development steps for Yamaha and Honda, and the realisation that Aprilia might have bigger problems than Jorge Martin’s long-term absence.We also debate the big question of the Jerez race weekend: what’s going on at KTM that’s resulted in Maverick Vinales suddenly becoming its standout rider and Pedro Acosta suddenly looking overhyped? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
29 Apr 49min
Could Marc Marquez blow the MotoGP title?
Marc Marquez has won three of the 2025 MotoGP season’s grands prix so far but crashed out of the other two - and that means he’s once again lost the championship lead after the Spanish Grand Prix.Simon Patterson and Matt Beer convene for a quick mini-episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast to try to figure out what’s going on with Marc’s errors, how Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha came so close to winning a race and what Alex Marquez finally getting that elusive grand prix victory (and retaking the points lead) means for the season.And The Race Members’ Club had plenty of opinions on all three topics for us to factor in too.We’ll be back for a full podcast after Monday’s post-race test at Jerez to go deeper into the weekend’s many storylines.Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more. Head to Patreon.com/therace Follow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and Twitter Check out our latest videos on YouTube Download our app on iOS or Android Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
28 Apr 31min
The biggest question facing every MotoGP manufacturer right now
Ahead of the European leg of the 2025 MotoGP season kicking off at Jerez, what is the biggest question facing every manufacturer?Megan White and Valentin Khorounzhiy try to answer that question for each of Aprilia, Honda, Yamaha, KTM and Ducati.What does Aprilia do now that Jorge Martin - on whom there is another injury update - is facing a further spell on the sidelines? How should Honda play the expiring contracts of Johann Zarco and Luca Marini?How good does the Yamaha V4 engine - now being extensively track-tested - need to be before it is brought to races? And what can KTM learn from Maverick Vinales' formbook-breaking Qatar GP run?Finally, what approach should Ducati take to its longer-term rider roster?Want more MotoGP podcast content? Sign up to our motorbike-only Riders tier on Patreon for our 2015 revisited series, ad-free listening and more. Head to Patreon.com/theraceFollow the Race Moto channel on Instagram and TwitterCheck out our latest videos on YouTubeDownload our app on iOS or Android Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
22 Apr 55min
BONUS: Qatar GP rider rankings Q&A special
There's no MotoGP race this weekend, so as a bonus we thought we'd share Val's Qatar GP rider rankings Q&A, which is usually members-only content.Regular listeners will know that Val's rider rankings are posted to The Race website after each race. We then invite The Race Members' Club to send in follow-up questions, which Val then answers in an exclusive video posted to Patreon.For example, in this one he muses on where Fabio di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez would have placed had they not crashed into other riders.If you enjoy this episode and would like to get every subsequent one, plus ad-free episodes and our exclusive MotoGP Revisited series on the 2015 season, why not join The Race Members' Club today? And don't worry if you're only interested in MotoGP and none of The Race's four-wheeled coverage - we have a riders-only tier!Head to Patreon.com/therace today to sign up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
20 Apr 24min
