Marc Marquez wins the Australian Sprint ahead of his brother Alex and Fabio Di Giannantonio, who takes third for the second Saturday in a row. Marco Bezzecchi finishes fourth after dropping as low as twelfth in the opening stages.
Two weeks ago at Mandalika, four Aprilias finished ahead of every other motorcycle. At Phillip Island, thirteen laps were enough to put three Ducatis on the podium and turn the World Championship standings around once again.
But the final classification tells only part of the story. For eight laps, Marquez and Jorge Martin fought for the lead, exchanging positions and pushing each other through some of Phillip Island’s fastest corners. Then, at Turn 8, Martin lost the front and crashed heavily. Medical examinations confirmed a fracture of his right radius and a suspected fracture of the distal ulna, requiring further assessment. He has been declared unfit for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.
Marquez, meanwhile, returns to the championship lead with 365 points to Martin’s 355.
For the Italian riders, Saturday brings two very different results at the front: another Sprint podium for Diggia and an impressive recovery from Bezzecchi.
Further back, Francesco Bagnaia retires, Bastianini and Morbidelli finish outside the points, and Luca Marini is unable to race because of a viral illness.
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Marquez and Martin: eight laps that change the title fight
Friday at Phillip Island had looked remarkably familiar.
Just as in Indonesia, Aprilia was fast. Bezzecchi led Practice, Fernandez finished second, Ogura fourth and Martin fifth. Four RS-GPs inside the top five, suggesting that the momentum from Mandalika had travelled to Australia.
Then Saturday morning brought rain. Qualifying took place in difficult, changing conditions, and Marquez turned them into an extraordinary pole position. After crashing on his first Q2 attempt, he returned to the garage, switched to his second Ducati and set a lap 1.494 seconds faster than Alex Marquez, who qualified second.
Martin salvaged fourth. Bezzecchi could manage only ninth.
By the time the Sprint began, however, the track was dry. And Martin immediately showed that the qualifying gap did not reflect the fight ahead. Starting from the second row, he moved up to challenge Marquez and began attacking for the lead. The two exchanged positions repeatedly. Martin found ways past, Marquez responded, and small mistakes turned into immediate opportunities for the other rider. It was the kind of battle that made the championship standings feel almost secondary for a few moments.
Until Lap 8.
Martin attacked again, but his Aprilia became unsettled through the fast section leading into Turn 8. He lost the front and was thrown into the gravel. The fight for the victory ended there. Martin was taken to the medical centre, where examinations confirmed a fracture of his right radius. A fracture of the distal ulna was also suspected, with further tests needed to establish the full extent of the injury. Aprilia subsequently confirmed that he would miss Sunday’s GP. His availability for Malaysia remains uncertain.
At the front, Marquez continued towards victory. Alex closed the gap in the final laps but could not find a way past. They crossed the line separated by just 0.323 seconds. For Marc, it is his ninth Sprint victory of the season and another twelve championship points.
Eight laps changed the lead of the championship. Martin’s injury also changes what happens next.
Di Giannantonio: two Saturdays, two podiums
In the middle of the championship drama, Fabio Di Giannantonio continues building a story of his own.
Third at Mandalika. Third at Phillip Island. Two consecutive Sprint podiums, achieved in very different circumstances.
In Indonesia, Diggia had qualified on the front row and celebrated his 28th birthday with a return to the top three. Australia asked something different of him.
The wet qualifying session left him eighth on the grid, but the dry Sprint gave him the chance to recover. While Marquez and Martin battled for the lead, Di Giannantonio worked his way forward. As the race changed in front of him, he was in position to move into the podium places. And in the closing laps, he had to keep Bezzecchi behind. He did. Diggia crossed the line 0.590 seconds behind Marc Marquez, collecting another seven points and giving VR46 its second consecutive Saturday podium. The result matters particularly when viewed alongside the previous rounds.
Motegi had been a difficult weekend. Mandalika provided a first response. Phillip Island adds something else.
One podium can come from taking an opportunity. Two consecutive Sprint podiums begin to suggest consistency. And for Di Giannantonio, that may be the most valuable part of this result.
Bezzecchi: from twelfth to the edge of the podium
Marco Bezzecchi arrived in Australia with his Indonesian Grand Prix victory still fresh. Italy’s 300th premier-class win. Aprilia’s first MotoGP top-four sweep. And, most importantly, a weekend in which he had finally converted speed into a victory.
Phillip Island started promisingly, too. Bezzecchi topped Friday’s Practice, showing once again how competitive the Aprilia could be on a circuit built around fast corners and flowing changes of direction.
Saturday’s rain changed the picture. Ninth in qualifying meant a third-row start, more than two seconds behind Marquez’s remarkable pole lap. Then the Sprint became even more complicated. After a difficult opening lap, Marco found himself down in twelfth. What followed was a different kind of race from the one he had enjoyed at Mandalika. He began recovering positions. Moved through the midfield. Passed Acosta for fourth with four laps remaining. And in the final stages, he closed in on Di Giannantonio.
The podium remained just out of reach. Bezzecchi finished fourth, 1.074 seconds behind Marquez, collecting six points.
At Mandalika, he had chased Fernandez, made the decisive pass and built a winning margin. At Phillip Island, he first had to recover from a difficult start before finding himself fighting for the final podium position.
This time, he could not reach it. But he also refused to let ninth on the grid define his Saturday.
Marco moves to 315 championship points, fifty behind the new leader. That remains a significant gap, especially with Marquez returning to winning form.
Still, Sunday’s Grand Prix will offer another chance, starting from ninth again. And the Sprint has already shown that his pace on a dry track can carry him forward. Saturday did not give Bezzecchi another podium. It gave him a recovery that showed how competitive he still was.
Bagnaia returns to the garage as the difficult run continues
For Francesco Bagnaia, Phillip Island adds another frustrating result to a season that has offered very little consistency.
The weekend had already begun on difficult terms. Outside the top ten in Practice, Bagnaia was forced into Q1. Wet qualifying did not provide a way into the final session, leaving him sixteenth on the grid.
The Sprint offered no significant recovery. Pecco struggled for pace and returned to the garage without crashing, ending his race without points On Friday, he had described the difficulty of getting his Ducati to turn as he wanted and the lack of grip that continued to affect his riding. Those issues provide context for his weekend, although they do not establish a definitive cause for his Sprint retirement.
What is clear is the sporting consequence. Another zero, following his retirement from the Indonesian Grand Prix. At Mandalika, Bagnaia had at least collected two points in the Sprint before failing to finish on Sunday. In Australia, Saturday brings nothing. And the contrast with the other factory Ducati is difficult to ignore.
Marquez wins and returns to the top of the championship. Bagnaia cannot complete the thirteen-lap race.
That comparison alone cannot explain the technical reasons behind their different performances. But it shows how far apart their results remain.
Japan did not solve Bagnaia’s problems. Indonesia brought them back into focus. Australia, at least on Saturday, has not changed the story.
Bastianini and Morbidelli miss the points, Marini cannot race
Behind Di Giannantonio and Bezzecchi, the other Italian riders have little to take from the Australian Sprint.
Enea Bastianini finishes twelfth, 11.437 seconds behind the winner. He had made it directly into Q2 with the seventh-fastest time in Practice, but Saturday’s wet qualifying left him eleventh on the grid. The Sprint takes him one position further back, outside the top nine that score points. After two fourth-place finishes at Motegi and a top ten in Sunday’s Indonesian Grand Prix, Bastianini is still searching for consistency across consecutive weekends.
Franco Morbidelli finishes fourteenth, 18.277 seconds behind Marquez. Starting twentieth, he makes up places but never reaches the points. It is another difficult Saturday following two fourteenth-place finishes in Indonesia.
Then there is Luca Marini. For him, the Australian weekend ended before the Sprint even began. The Honda rider had completed only two laps in Friday morning’s session before stopping because of the effects of a viral illness. He had experienced several days of high fever, followed by significant muscle weakness. Medical examinations on Saturday confirmed that he was not fit to continue. Marini will also miss Sunday’s Grand Prix, with another medical assessment planned ahead of Malaysia. This is not a zero caused by a difficult race. It is a weekend Luca simply could not race.
LINK:
Leggi: Bezzecchi wins the Indonesian GP: Italy’s 300th premier-class victory as Aprilia sweeps the top four
Guarda: Australian Sprint: the Highlights of the Sprint Race on SkySport Italia
