The Red Bull KTM Tech3 crew is leaving Balaton Park with mixed feelings after the Michelin® Grand Prix of Hungary. The stage was perfectly set for Enea Bastianini, but unfortunately the Italian crashed on the opening lap of the race today, calling an early end to his Hungarian adventure. Luckily, the number 23 came out unharmed after sliding in the middle of the track on the opening lap. We still go home with positives, after Pol Espargaro did the crew solid once again, with the Spaniard claiming a brilliant 8th place, as he replaced injured Maverick Viñales.
Grand Prix of Hungary
Heading once again to the grid in 4th, Enea Bastianini faced a double-long lap penalty to complete today, following his sprint crash which also took down Johann Zarco. Unfortunately, he did not have a chance to try doing those. At the race start, Enea took a decent start to arrive at T1 on the outside, and he remained in his starting position after a few turns while Marc Marquez had been pushed aside in the first corners. Unfortunately, the Italian lost the front of his bike on the change of direction in the T15-T16 left-right sequence, and that was it for him. Two double DNFs will be all for the Italian, who will look to bounce back in two weeks in Catalunya.
Pol Espargaro was lining up once again in 12th on the grid, fully motivated for the incoming race after a decent top 10 result in the sprint on Saturday. At the race start, Pol kept his grid position in the first corners as he survived through the busy first corners, to exit lap 1 in P11 behind teammate Brad Binder, following Enea Bastianini’s opening lap crash. Espargaro progressively settled into his race pace as he followed Binder, and he moved up to the top 10 on lap 4 after Fabio Quartararo completed his long penalty. Binder was 0.4 seconds ahead, and Australian Jack Miller not far, but the Aussie crashed shortly after at lap 6, leaving Quartararo next behind Espargaro. On lap 7, Espargaro was lapping fast, faster than race leader Marco Bezzecchi, which allowed him to maintain Quartararo distant. Polyccio still sat in 10th halfway through the race, but a long lap completed by Francesco Bagnaia offered him the chance to move to 8th, in addition to Fermin Aldeguer making a mistake at the front. Eventually, Brad Binder increased the pace while Espargaro’s small mistake saw Binder escape, and by now Bagnaia was already back close behind the number 44. Espargaro defended his ground pretty well as he kept three MotoGP™ world championships (Bagnaia and Quartararo) behind him, all the way until the checkered flag, to claim a brilliant 8th place!
That's it for racing in August, but we will be back soon enough with another exciting doubleheader, as we next head to Barcelona for the Grand Prix of Catalunya on September 5-7, which will be followed by the Grand Prix of San Marino!
ENEA BASTIANINI: "After two crashes in both the sprint and today, it is easy to feel so unlucky. After yesterday, I had some pain and I did not feel at my 100% physically today, and unfortunately we crashed in the opening lap, and I did everything I could to escape. At the end of the day, we have to understand that we have been lucky today, because I found myself in the middle of the track with riders coming behind, and I did not get touched by anyone, so for sure, the day could have turned wrong, and we have to appreciate that. Anyway, the weekend was positive for us, even if we leave with zero points, I am feeling more and more confident on the bike, so I am looking forward to Barcelona, and hopefully we can have a great weekend."
POL ESPARAGARO: "I feel like we did everything pretty good today! Good start, good pace, I could keep up with my teammate Brad Binder, until I made a small mistake which made me lose one second. But I had Pecco (Francesco Bagnaia) behind me at the end of the race, and I could maintain the pace, so we can be really happy! It was a solid weekend for KTM, and all the work done in the background with the test team is paying off because it looks like the guys have found the confidence needed to perform! I am so happy for Pedro (Acosta), and even if he crashed, Enea (Bastianini) was amongst the fastest all weekend too, so we can be proud of the weekend. I have enjoyed this weekend a lot, although I also wish for Maverick to be back as soon as possible with us!"
NICOLAS GOYON, Team Manager: "This first Grand Prix of Hungary was for sure a rollercoaster for us! From the start of the weekend, we knew that we would have potential on this track, and Enea Bastianini showed up straight from the first day, until qualifying in 4th. Things went wrong in the sprint unfortunately, and we arrived today with a double long lap penalty to complete. We had a strategy in place, but unfortunately, Enea crashed on the opening lap, and there was nothing we could do. It is a great shame, because the bike was fast – we saw it with Pedro Acosta - and we could have had a great weekend. However, we have to take the positives, we were really competitive, and we’ll look to bring all of this to Barcelona. Pol Espargaro did us solid this weekend, and we would like to say a huge thank you to him for an unbelievable weekend. He achieved P8 after resisting Francesco Bagnaia all the way until the end, and he rode with an excellent pace. He can be proud, and we are too!"
RACE RESULTS
1. Marc Marquez (SPA), Ducati Lenovo Team, 42'37.681
2. Pedro Acosta (SPA), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, +4.314
3. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA), Aprilia Racing, +7.488
8. Pol Espargaro (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +14.015
DNF. Enea Bastianini (ITA), Red Bull KTM Tech3 - 25 laps
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING
1. Marc Marquez (SPA), Ducati Lenovo Team, 455pts
2. Alex Marquez (SPA), BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP, 280pts
3. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA), Ducati Lenovo Team, 228pts
14. Maverick Viñales (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 69pts
15. Enea Bastianini (ITA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 63pts
21. Pol Espargaro (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 16pts
TRACK RECORDS
All Time Record: 2025 - M. Marquez (SPA) - 1'36.518 - 151.9 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2025 - M. Marquez (SPA) - 1'37.699 - 150.1 km/h
Best Pole: 2025 - M. Marquez (SPA) - 1'36.518 - 151.9 km/h
Top Speed: 2025 - B. Binder (RSA) - 308.5 Km/h
