The Red Bull KTM Tech3 MotoGP™ squad will leave Australia satisfied after the solid performances of both Enea Bastianini and Pol Espargaro at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday. Starting from P20, Bastianini claimed the 9th place on Sunday in Phillip Island as he showcased once again a brilliant remontada. Pol Espargaro, replacing Maverick Viñales, got himself a top 10 result, making it 4 out of 4 KTMs in the top 10 Down Under, with Pedro Acosta in 5th and Brad Binder in 8th.
Grand Prix of Australia
Enea Bastianini’s top 10 in Saturday’s sprint gave the Italian good hopes for the main race on Sunday, and everything was in place for the number 23 to complete a good job today, after a positive warm up session. At lights out under a cloudy sky and windy conditions, Enea jumped to 16th in one lap as he gained 4 positions through the midpack, to enter lap 1 behind two-time world champion Francesco Bagnaia. It was not too long until Bastianini overtook his old teammate to progress to the top 15, to sit 0.7 seconds behind Johann Zarco. The Frenchman was down on lap 5, as was local hero Jack Miller, and that was P13 after 5 laps with next ahead Joan Mir. With Mir one second away, Enea was progressively catching up on the HRC rider, but Mir made a mistake at lap 10. Another rider down, and next on was Alex Rins 0.8 seconds ahead. Three laps later, the gap was closed, and Enea ceased his opportunity to move past the Yamaha rider, to progress to 11th, in the back wheel of Fabio Quartararo who had dropped from the pole position. The Tech3 rider did not stay behind for long, as his faster pace allowed him to quickly move past the number 20 in the last sector of lap 13. Entering P14, we were in the top 10. The next targets ahead were teammates Brad Binder and Pol Espargaro. Binder had caught up on Espargaro who’s pace was slightly dropping, and Enea got his moment too, and that was now P9 on lap 18, just behind Binder. Enea was close with Binder, but somehow he struggled to move past the South African, while the guys from behind were coming back close. Enea was defending his ground, but Rins, who had a small resurgence, moved past Enea on lap 23. We were back to P10, and Aldeguer's late drop gave Enea his 9th place back, which he kept until the end. It is another solid ride from the ‘Beast’ as he scores points with an excellent 9th place, all the way from P20 on the grid!
Hungry for more after his 9th place in the sprint on Saturday, Pol Espargaro was ready to hit the long distance. At the race start, Pol Espargaro took a good one and soon entered a battle for 7th against Luca Marini, with both overtaking each other, but it was Pol who won the battle to 7th entering lap 3. 5 laps gone, and Pol was holding that 7th place, but he was already under pressure from Marini who was closing behind. Ahead, there was Marco Bezzecchi on lap 8, after he had completed his two long penalties. Marini had increased the pace and was through on lap 9, as Pol had now to defend P8 against Fermin Aldeguer. The pace was held solid by Espargaro as he kept the distance within the front pack, although Aldeguer’s threat was growing lap after lap. A few laps later, Espargarao beat Quartararo in the main straight entering lap 13, and we were up to 7th, but Fermin Aldeguer made his move too, as the Tech3 rider went a bit wide at turn 12. Then, we saw Pol starting to fight against the tire drop, and despite resisting as much as he could, he was overtaken by both Binder and Bastianini in a few laps, and a few laps to the end, it was Alex Rins who sneaked into the top 10, leaving Pol in 11th. One more position was gained as we was through Aldeguer, and that was a final P10-finish for the Spaniard. Another solid performance from Pol Espargaro, who made it three top 10 out of three races this season, after his 9th place at the Czech GP, and P8 at the Hungarian GP.
That’s all for 2025 Australia, once again it was amazing to see fans from the other side of the world, and we are already excited to bring back MotoGP™ Down Under next year. Next for us is Malaysia, as we are heading to the Sepang International Circuit for that final round overseas next week, on October 24-25-26.
ENEA BASTIANINI: "The race has been solid, I think! Starting from P20 is not easy, but we made our way back lap after lap. I was faster as the race went by, I could catch up with the other guys, I made some good overtakes, until I ended up being in the fight for P7. Unfortunately, the tires were destroyed since I pushed hard to come back. I gave it all to try earning that P7 against Brad Binder, but I could not achieve it. We did two solid races this weekend which gave me back a bit of confidence, but our target now is really on improving qualifying, because today might have been a different story if we had not started from that far. I need to work on myself, as I am conscious that the fast lap is a weak point because of my riding style."
POL ESPARGARO: "We are happy with our result, but after yesterday’s sprint and today’s warm up, we felt like we had a better opportunity for today, especially with the wind. I have the feeling that there are things that are happening on the bike that we are still unable to control as riders. The rear spin is pretty good, but somehow we are destroying the tires much faster than the other riders on the grid. In my case, I felt pretty fast at the start of the race, I was following Alex (Marquez), I felt that I could stay there for a while, but somehow I dropped and I lost a lot of positions. 8 laps to the end, the tires were gone, so we tried our best to survive until the end. It is a learning process, it is good to be here, to be feeling these things, which we will try to understand and improve."
NICOLAS GOYON, Team Manager: "In the end, we have finished this weekend in Phillip Island on a positive note! Having both riders inside the top 10 was hard to foresee looking at the grid positions, so we have to congratulate Enea Bastianini for his weekend! We are still struggling with qualifying, which is making our life harder when starting from P20, but he fought his way back to P10 in the sprint yesterday, and then P9 today! Good job from him, but we really need to focus on getting better in qualifying, we believe there is room for improvement. As we head to Sepang, Enea will already have references from the test, so we hope it will help him to be competitive from the first day. Once again, I would like to congratulate Pol Espargaro, he has finished all his races with us in the top 10 this season, and it is a huge achievement for a ‘substitute’! Pol is doing a fantastic job, so we are excited to have another round with him next week in Malaysia."
RACE RESULTS
1. Raul Fernandez (SPA), Trackhouse MotoGP Team, 39'.571
2. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA), VR46 Racing Team, +1.418
3. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA), Aprilia Racing, +2.410
9. Enea Bastianini (ITA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +14.076
10. Pol Espargaro (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +16.861
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING
1. Marc Marquez (SPA), Ducati Lenovo Team, 545pts
2. Alex Marquez (SPA), BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP, 379pts
3. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA), Aprilia Racing, 282pts
14. Enea Bastianini (ITA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 96pts
17. Maverick Viñales (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 72pts
22. Pol Espargaro (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 23pts
TRACK RECORDS
All Time Record: 2025 - F. Quartararo (FRA) - 1'26.465 - 185.1 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2024 - M. Marquez (SPA) - 1'27.765 - 182.4 km/h
Best Pole: 2025 - F. Quartararo (FRA) - 1'26.465 - 185.1 km/h
Top Speed: 2025 - E. Bastianini (ITA) - 358.8 km/h
