spanish pilot Jorge Martin (Ducati) moved further away from leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) in the MotoGP overall standings after he made a mistake in his strategy and was overtaken by four riders on the last lap of the long race in which he came first. The Australian Grand Prix is the sixteenth round of the World Motorcycle Championship, won by Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati) ahead of ‘Pecco’ and Italian Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati).
After the drama in Mandalika a week ago, where he crashed before halfway through the event, The man from Madrid lived another day to forget, The race, which started well with the conquest of positions and deteriorated due to poor tire selection in the long race, was postponed to Saturday due to the wind forecast of up to 60 km per hour on Sunday.
He actually led the race for 26 of the 27 laps, but the tires were saying they were good enough. Choosing a different set of tires to its rivals, the ’89 suffered the consequences of the rear soft compound failing and was overtaken by Bagnaia’s Zarco, just one lap ahead. DiGiannantonio for (Ducati) and South Africa Brad Connector (KTM). He eventually finished fifth.
Frenchman, Moto2 champion 2015 and 2016Thus, he came back from second place in MotoGP and achieved his first victory – he started fifth, while ‘Diggia’ took sixth place and scored his first podium in the premier class.
‘Pecco’, who came second on Phillip Island, now increases his distance from Martín, with whom he is separated 27 points. Ahead of us is Sunday’s sprint race and the last four Grands Prix, weather permitting.
Martín surprised by driving the soft compound at the back and defended his privileged position against Binder when the traffic lights were switched off. Both increased their pace during the pursuit group consisting of Di Giannantonio, Bagnaia, Zarco and the Spaniards. Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) and Australia Jack Miller (KTM) and later joined Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) – tried to catch them.
Di Giannantonio pulled away from the group and only the championship leader managed to get out after him, while Martín took the lead by more than three seconds. 10 laps left to go. The drama of ‘Martinator’ started with a single person five turns to the checkered flagand their opponents could smell blood.
Earlier Zarco had passed ‘Diggia’ who saw how ‘Pecco’ overtook him and the three of them, together with Binder, passed Martín with one lap remaining, condemning him to punishment. fifth position final.
As for the rest of the Spaniards, Aleix Espargaró finished eighth, just ahead of his rival. Alex Marquez (Ducati), Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) was eleventh and Marc Márquez was fifteenth. Point loss is over Raul Fernandez (Aprilia), sixteenth and Pol Espargaro (KTM), eighteenth.
For your part, Joan Mir (Repsol Honda) could not complete the race by crashing on the 11th lap after contact with the Italian driver at turn 4. Luca Marini (Ducati), same Augusto Fernandez (KTM) was also away from the field due to the fall.