World championship leader Jorge Martin won the sprint race of the Australian round of the MotoGP world championship this Saturday ahead of Francesco Bagnaia.
World championship leader Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac) won the sprint race of the Australian round of the MotoGP world championship on Saturday, with his closest rival Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) finishing only fourth.
Marc Marquez (Ducati-Gresini) finished second, with third place going to Enea Bastianini, Bagnaia’s teammate. In the championship, Martin, who arrived in Australia with ten points ahead of Bagnaia, now has 16 before the Grand Prix which will be contested on Sunday.
“I thought it would be more difficult with Marc starting just behind a month but after three, four laps I managed to widen the gap even if he came back at the end”declared the winner, who crossed the line 1.5 seconds ahead of Marquez.
This victory in the sprint (13 laps) bodes well for Martin before the Grand Prix on Sunday which will count 27 and will bring in more points. But the weather at Philipp Island, off the coast of Melbourne, is often capricious with rain and sometimes strong winds, like this Saturday and the weather could weigh on the race.
The sprint was marked by a collision between Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati VR46) and Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) then fighting for fourth place, their motorcycles flying into the gravel. If Vinales got up unscathed, Bezzecchi had to be evacuated conscious and seated on a stretcher.
Marquez’s comeback
On the French side, Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) finished 11th while Johann Zarco (Honda-LCR) fell. Marc Marquez, starting second on the grid, got off to a bad start to find himself eighth while Jorge Martin immediately took the lead with Marco Bezzecchi behind him, followed by Francesco Bagnaia and the South African Brad Binder (KTM) very off to a good start.
Marquez then began a comeback, finding himself fifth after two laps before passing Binder in a daring maneuver. “For once I leave on the front line, I miss my departure”noted the six-time Spanish world champion in disappointment, attributing it to mechanical problems on his machine. “We’ll see tomorrow if I don’t make any mistakes, but I have a very good feeling about the bike and at the end I had the same pace as Jorge”.
Bagnaia managed to briefly take second place but was unable to prevent his world championship rival from taking the lead. Martin increased his lead to three seconds at the halfway mark, the duel between Marc Marquez and «Pecco» Bagnaia behind him turned to the advantage of the Spaniard, the double reigning Italian champion was even then overtaken by Enea Bastianini.
In the championship, Martin now has 404 points to 388 at Bagnaia, with Marc Marquez further behind with 320 points tied with Bastianini. There will remain three Grands Prix and as many sprints to compete after the race in Australia on Sunday and everything therefore remains open between Martin and Bagnaia, the outgoing reigning double world champion.
