Jorge Martin extended his MotoGP world championship lead to 16 points by leading the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix sprint race from start to finish on Saturday, the Pramac Ducati rider dominating from pole position in a crash-strewn 13-lap race at Phillip Island.
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The Spaniard, who took pole for the third year in succession in Australia earlier on Saturday, led from the start and was never troubled to take the chequered flag 1.520secs ahead of Marc Marquez, with Enea Bastianini making it an all-Ducati podium with third place.
“Today I thought was going to be much more difficult with Marc close behind me, but I was trying to keep a really fast pace,” Martin said after recording his sixth sprint win in 17 starts this season.
“When I saw a had a big gap I started to manage a bit to make it until the end. It wasn’t easy, the wind was a lot and not constant, so finally winning again … I’m so happy.”
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Martin’s main title challenger Francesco Bagnaia, the reigning world champion, faded from second place to fourth at the chequered flag, getting a late reprieve after Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales had an enormous 230km/h crash on the penultimate lap as they hunted Bagnaia down.
Vinales had just overtaken Bezzecchi for fifth place when the Italian’s Ducati speared into the Spaniard’s Aprilia at the first corner, sending both riders skittling into the gravel trap.
Just 15 of the 22 starters saw the chequered flag, with Australia’s Jack Miller one of seven retirements on lap eight.
Miller, who started just 16th after his KTM hit a hare that ran across the track during qualifying, used a superb start to launch into the top 10 on lap one, and was in eighth place when he fell to squander points in front of his home fans.
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Marquez was Martin’s closest challenger in qualifying, but the three-time Australian Grand Prix winner ran wide at the first corner and dropped to eighth as Martin escaped, the Spaniard leading by over a second within just three laps.
Marquez was back inside the podium places on lap five, while Honda’s Johann Zarco, the 2023 Australian GP winner, crashed out at turn nine.
Bagnaia’s teammate Bastianini claimed third on lap eight, and as Martin’s lead peaked at over three seconds on lap 10, the world champion looked set for a fight to remain inside the top six before Bezzecchi and Vinales crashed, both riders lucky to avoid major injury.
Martin will be looking to avenge his last-lap Grand Prix loss at Phillip Island when he starts the 27-lap main race from pole on Sunday, with neither the Spaniard, nor Bagnaia, having won a long-form race in Australia before.
Marquez, in 2017, is the most recent pole-sitter to win in Australia, Martin finishing seventh from pole in 2022, and fading to fifth after leading 26 of 27 laps at the Island last October.
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