Marc Marquez wins Australia MotoGP sprint thriller as Jorge Martin has huge crash
Marc Marquez has taken the lead in the MotoGP standings after winning the sprint at Phillip Island
Marc Marquez won a thrilling sprint at the MotoGP Australian Grand Prix to take a 10-point championship lead after Jorge Martin suffered a high-speed crash.
Split by two points ahead of Saturday’s 13-lap sprint at Phillip Island, Marquez and Martin ran first and second at the first corner of the race.
The pair then engaged in a hard battle that saw them swap the lead nine times inside the first eight laps.
But drama struck on the eighth tour, as Aprilia’s Martin crashed through the high-speed Turn 8 right-hander and bounced through the gravel.
Martin had to be stretchered away by the marshals and is in the medical centre undergoing checks.
Marquez held on to win his ninth sprint of the year by 0.323s from Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez, as VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio completed a Ducati 1-2-3 in third.
With his 24th career sprint win, Marquez retakes the championship lead and is now 10 points clear of Martin.
Marquez converted pole to the holeshot at the start of the 13-lap sprint, as Martin charged through to second from fourth on the grid.
Martin briefly lost second to Alex Marquez at Turn 10 on lap two, before the Aprilia rider came back through at Turn 1 on the following tour.
He then launched his first raid on Marc Marquez’s lead at Turn 4, but ran wide and let the factory Ducati rider back through.
Martin made the move stick moments later at Turn 10, though would cede the lead again by running wide at Turn 4 two laps later, letting Marquez back into the lead.
A daring move at the fast Turn 1 on lap six saw Martin go back ahead of Marquez, but he ran wide at Turn 2 and was punished by the reigning world champion.
They traded places again at Turn 1 and 2 at the start of lap eight, and once more at Turn 4, with Marquez holding firm on the exit of each.
Martin’s race came to an end moments later at Turn 8, however, as he appeared to venture slightly off-line compared to Marc Marquez and the closing Alex Marquez in third.
Marc Marquez wasn’t troubled by his younger brother through to the chequered flag.
Marco Bezzecchi recovered from outside of the points at the start of the sprint to finish fourth, though his deficit in the championship battle is now 50 points.
Pedro Acosta was fifth after a brief podium challenge on the KTM, with Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura sixth, Brad Binder seventh on the factory KTM, Jack Miller eighth for Pramac Yamaha and LCR Honda’s Diogo Moreira ninth.
His team-mate Johann Zarco had been in the podium hunt early on, but dropped out on lap four with a technical issue.
Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse), Maverick Vinales (Tech3) and Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) also failed to finish.
