Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Saturday October 19, 2024 at 8:31 a.m.
Jorge Martin won the Australian Grand Prix sprint race this Saturday at Phillip Island, while his title rival Francesco Bagnaia only finished fourth. On the French side, Fabio Quartararo took eleventh place and Johann Zarco dropped out.
There is now a sixteen point gap between Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia! The fight between the two men for the title of MotoGP world champion should rage until the end of the season, and the Spaniard took a small advantage by winning the sprint race of the Australian Grand Prix this Saturday. At Phillip Island, the Pramac driver had won pole a little earlier, ahead of his compatriot Marc Marquez (Gresini), and the two men finished in the first two places after the thirteen laps of the sprint race. However, if Jorge Martin had a rather calm race, signing the best start and leading from start to finish, Marquez missed out in the first corner and found himself eighth.but he managed a magnificent comeback. Francesco Bagnaia, for his part, only finished fifth in qualifying but, as is often the case, made a magnificent start, which allowed him to be third after the first corner. However, the double world champion was overtaken by Marquez halfway through the race, then by his future ex-teammate Enea Bastianini, so that he finished just off the podium, conceding six points to Jorge Martin.
A spectacular fall at the end of the race
The end of the race was marked by the fall at very high speed of Marco Bezzecchi and Maverick Vinales, who were then fighting for fifth place. At nearly 300km/h, the Italian failed to brake and the Spaniard hit him from behind. While Bezzecchi was still on the ground, Vinales, who got up immediately, did not hide his anger and gave his opponent a middle finger. The Italian was finally evacuated on a stretcher but did not suffer any fractures. The Spaniard escaped with “multiple bruises”. More fear than harm… On the French side, Johann Zarco started 14th and fell and retired on the fourth lap of the race. Fabio Quartararo started 19th and made a good comeback to finish eleventh, but not in the points. The Grand Prix will take place on Sunday at 5 a.m. French time, with a maximum of 25 points up for grabs. The opportunity for Martin to widen the gap or for Bagnaia to maintain suspense?
