A tire pressure penalty costs Fermin Aldeguer the sprint podium in Sepang – but he secures the title of best rookie – He wants to fight for victory in the Grand Prix
After the sprint in Malaysia, Fermin Aldeguer is officially the best MotoGP rookie of the 2025 season. The Gresini Ducati Team rider once again demonstrated his potential in Sepang. In Q1, he advanced to the next round with the fastest time and qualified sixth on the second row of the grid.
After the first lap, Aldeguer was in seventh place, but he worked his way through the chasing pack to finish third. However, race officials announced an investigation into a possible violation of the minimum front tire pressure requirement.
Ultimately, a violation was confirmed. Eight seconds were added to Aldeguer’s race time. This dropped the 20-year-old back to seventh place (here are the new results). Nevertheless, he is the best rookie of the year, as he has a lead of more than 99 World Championship points over Ai Ogura (Trackhouse-Aprilia).
There was already a problem with the dashboard of his Ducati on the starting grid. “I don’t know. It was difficult to manage during the race because I saw a warning message on my display,” Aldeguer reports. “I was very close to the other riders and tried to increase the pressure a little – just in case. But I am 100 percent sure that we were within the permitted range. It was just a problem with the sensor.“ The post-race investigation found a violation. But the joy of winning the rookie title outweighed the disappointment of losing the medal. ”Yes, crazy! But in the end, we achieved one of our goals from the start of the season,” Aldeguer beams.
“Maybe I didn’t think it was possible, but today we finished this little championship. I’m super happy. I just have to thank the Gresini team, Ducati, and all my people. We have confirmed our goal: to always fight for more.”
Aldeguer won his first MotoGP race in Indonesia. In Sepang, too, he noted after Friday’s practice that he sensed opportunities to fight for the podium or even victory. His performance in the sprint showed that his assessment was correct.
“I had the pace in the sprint, but also throughout the weekend. Friday’s result wasn’t really representative. Maybe not the starting position either, because I crashed and lost some feeling.“
”But we achieved one of our goals: to start from the first two rows. That’s a good starting position for the race. Third place today, another podium – that’s incredible for my career, for my season.”
“But why not fight for even more tomorrow? Not necessarily for the win, but maybe for an exciting duel with ‘Pecco’ and second place.”
Tire management will be crucial in the Grand Prix. Aldeguer has already shown this season that he is good at it and is still fast in the second half of the race.
