23.08.2025

Top ten for Espargaro after incident-packed Hungarian MotoGP™ Sprint

MotoGP 2025 - Round 14 of 22, Balaton Park – Qualification and Sprint

Pol Espargaro 2025 MotoGP Balaton Park Saturday © KTM Images/Polarity Photo

This press release has: 18 Images

The short, flat and compact Balaton Park circuit ensured MotoGP’s return to Hungary for the first time since 1992 and Red Bull KTM Tech3's Pol Espargaro emerged from the fourteenth Sprint of the season on Saturday with 10th position. Incidents determined the races of Pedro Acosta in 17th, Brad Binder in 18th and Enea Bastianini who did not reach the checkered flag.

Top ten for Pol Espargaro who replaced Maverick Viñales for the second time in 2025 and was one of the few with MotoGP experience at Balaton. The Spaniard qualified 12th on the grid
Pedro Acosta qualifies in 7th after setting the pace during Friday and Saturday morning. Contact in Turn 1 and a fall in Turn 11 puts the Spaniard out of contention for Sprint points
Brad Binder was also a victim of more close quarters action and was forced to enter the pits to change a damaged fairing in the Sprint. The South African rejoined a lap down and in P18
Enea Bastianini’s chances of a Sprint podium were dashed by another rider into Turn 1. The Italian then crashed trying to recoup ground on the opening lap
The KTM RC4 is prominent on the first two rows of the Moto3™ grid with Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Valentin Perrone again furthest forward with P2

MotoGP shifted from the history of the Red Bull Ring in Austria to the new ambition of Balaton Park in Hungary for the series’ long overdue return to the country. Round fourteen circulated the flat, low-speed and technical layout next to Lake Balaton and across fresh asphalt.

The Red Bull KTM quartet saw Pol Espargaro line-up for the second time this term as Maverick Viñales rehabs his left shoulder. The Spaniard had previously completed a private test at Balaton Park, therefore he was the only rider on the grid with prior knowledge of the layout on MotoGP machinery. Espargaro and Pedro Acosta were inside the top three after FP1 on Friday and then Acosta went to the top of the time sheets through Practice to sit comfortably in Q2 direct entry for Saturday. He was joined by Enea Bastianini and Espargaro while Binder went into Q1 with less than one second separating the first 17 riders.

Blue skies and breeze on Friday turned into even warmer temperatures for the second day of the Grand Prix. Brad tried to filter out of Q1 and, incredibly, tied on his lap-time for the final slot but had to settle for P13 on the grid. In Q2 Acosta crashed early and was then playing catch-up on his second bike; eventually taking the 7th quickest lap, half a second from Pole. Three places ahead was the vibrant Bastianini: P4 marking his highest quali of ‘25 and put the Italian at the tip of row two. Espargaro had a late fall and rested with P12.

The Sprint was chaotic. Bastianini was hit midway into the congested first turn. He then tried to regain ground and positions but misjudged his corner entry to Turn 9 due to minor machine damage and went down. Acosta was also a victim of the early carnage, and his attempts to grab Sprint points ended with a slide into the gravel at mid-race distance. Binder suffered contact in the formative stages which led to a brief pitstop for a new fairing. He rejoined the fray and made decent lap-times with an improved race set-up discovered in FP2. Espargaro had some clean air but was busy mid-pack and made it to the line with P10 after experimenting with some more components for future iterations of the KTM RC16.

MotoGP retains its habitual timetable in Hungary with Moto3 opening race day at 11.00, then Moto2 at 12.15 and the 26-lap MotoGP Grand Prix at 14.00 CEST.

Pol Espargaro, 12th in qualification, 10th in the Sprint: “It was not my best race. We tested some things on the bike that didn’t really go to plan and I was struggling more and more. I had a good position in the beginning, and I was blocking the others on the brakes but doing that you don’t flow and keep the speed. Tomorrow I’ll need to follow my line more. Anyway, we took some information and tomorrow we’ll go again.”

Pedro Acosta, 7th in qualification, 17th in the Sprint: “The biggest mistake of the weekend came in qualifying. I also lost the front forks that I really like for the rigidity of the bike. Ciao forks! P7 was a normal qualifying position this season and I was expecting something OK for the race. I was 4th or 5th into the first corner but then there was a mess: it is what it is. I have to accept it, and the mistakes, but I was not expecting that drama at the first corner. I tried everything to pass afterwards but it was hard to match the braking points. I was desperate because I felt I had potential. Tomorrow we go again.”

Brad Binder, 13th in qualification, 18th in the Sprint: “I spun off the line and lost some places but gained one or two back until we got to the final chicane of sector three. The whole group got congested and I wasn’t ready for it. I clipped my wing on the back of another bike. It wasn’t a massive issue but on the next lap the fairing split. I had to come in. After that I had really good pace! A real pity. Today was not my day. I figured out a few areas where we could improve so we’ll speak with the boys and get dialed-in for tomorrow.”

Enea Bastianini, 4th in qualification, DNF in the Sprint: “Not my expectation! I made a good start: this was something we’d worked on. Turn 1 made me lose a lot of positions and the bike was smashed. I tried to come back but in Turn 8 the brakes were damaged and it was impossible to stop in time for Turn 9. I’m so sorry to Johann for hitting his rear. I think I can be competitive tomorrow but I have some back pain at the moment, so we’ll have to see.”

Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Not the races we expected and hoped for but the weekend started well and we continued our positive trend. It’s a new and different track but we maintained our line of work. Pedro’s crash did not help in the Quali but Enea was 4th, Brad felt some improvement – he did a really good job in the morning - and Pol was incredible again to be in Q2. The Turn 1 incident led to a disappointing race for Enea and Pedro, and Brad was caught up too. In any case there are decent signs for all three and it was important to get more laps here while Pol also rode well. Tomorrow is a another chance and we need to use it to the maximum while keeping in mind what happened on track today.”

Grand Prix of Hungary photographs can be found HERE

Results Qualifying MotoGP Grand Prix of Hungary

1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati 1:36.518

2. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA) Aprilia +0.290

3. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA) Ducati +0.354

4. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.424

7. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +0.581

12. Pol Espargaro (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +1.104

13. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:37.047 (Q1)

Results MotoGP Sprint Grand Prix of Hungary

1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati 21:13.465

2. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA) Ducati +2.095

3. Franco Morbidelli (ITA) Ducati +3.595

10. Pol Espargaro (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +12.905

17. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +22.245

18. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +1 lap

DNF. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3

KTM GP Academy

Moto3 laid the first traces of Grand Prix rubber at Balaton Park on Friday morning. By the end of the opening day Valentin Perrone underlined his bright, recent spell of form with the 2nd fastest lap-time on Red Bull KTM Tech3’s KTM RC4. The Argentine was joined by teammate Jacob Roulstone and Red Bull KTM Ajo pair Jose Antonio Rueda and Alvaro Carpe in Q2. Qualifying honors fell to Perrone again as less than 0.4 of a second divided the top eight: in which all the KTM GP Academy riders were placed. Perrone will attack the 20-lap Grand Prix from P2 with Carpe on the second row in P4. Roulstone had one of his most promising quali sessions of the year to take P7, one slot in front of championship leader Rueda.

In Moto2 Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Collin Veijer hoped to build on his top ten speed from Austria. The Dutchman adapted quickly on Friday where he rose as high as 5th in Free Practice and ranked 7th in the afternoon. The rookie then made it through Q2 with a lap-time 0.1 from Pole. The effort was enough for 5th and the second row of the grid. The injured Deniz Öncü was replaced for the second weekend in a row by Daniel Muñoz. The young Spaniard bagged points in Austria last Sunday and is quietly optimistic of another top fifteen classification when he’ll start from P20 for the 22 laps tomorrow.

Results Qualifying Moto3 Grand Prix of Hungary

1. Maximo Quiles (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team 1:46.060

2. Valentin Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.060

3. Angel Piqueras (ESP), KTM +0.090

4. Alvaro Carpe (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.107

7. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.322

8. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.388

11. Dennis Foggia (ITA) CFMOTO Aspar Team +0.673

Results Qualifying Moto2 Grand Prix of Hungary

1. Diogo Moreira (BRA) 1:40.380

2. Zonta Van Der Goorbergh (NED) +0.050

3. Manuel Gonzalez (ESP) +0.082