Auto Express

Spectacular Saturday MotoGP race at Phillip Island sees first time winner


MotoGP 2023

Round 16 – Australia Grand Prix
Saturday

MotoGP Race Report

(Full 27 lap race brought forward to Saturday)

Jorge Martin had obliterated his own lap record at Phillip Island during the qualifying session, a 1m27.246 half-a-second under the previous benchmark, and four-tenths quicker than second placed man Brad Binder could muster. Pecco Bagnaia had rounded out the front row but was still quietly confident that he could take the race to Martin due to the work he had done on tyre longevity.

Aleix Epsargaro headed the second row alongside Johann Zarco and the resurgent Fabio Di Giannantonio while, thanks to a tow from Bagnaia, Marc Marquez fronted row three alongside Jack Miller and Marco Bezzecchi.  Miller’s last fast run spoiled by Aleix Espargaro at Southern Loop, while Marco Bezzecchi stated the lower temperatures today had sent him back to the drawing board somewhat.

Due to the forecast for strong winds and rain on Sunday, the 27-lap race originally schedule for Sunday had been brought forward to Saturday at 1510, while the Saturday Sprint Race had been rescheduled for Sunday afternoon, weather permitting.  The Sunday schedule has also been brought foreward an hour, in order to try and beat the arrival of the weather. The Sunday program now has the Sprint Race slated for 1300, the Moto2 contest at 1115, and Moto3 at 1000.

And talking of weather, a few small sprinkles of precipitation had drifted over the circuit a couple of times in the lead up to the race getting underway. There was little on the radar, but the feeling in the air was that a minor shower might indeed be possible at any time.

Most riders had plumped for a hard front to aid braking stability, and a medium rear. A few were taking a risk on the soft, including pole-man Jorge Martin, aiming to leave the field for dead and then manage the gap to the end of the contest… Marc Marquez also made a late switch to a soft rear.

Jorge Martin led them away and quickly pulled away

Jorge Martin capitalised on pole position to lead the field through Southern Loop, chased by Brad Binder, Pecco Bagnaia, Jack Miller and Fabio Di Giannantonio.  Aleix Espargaro and Johann Zarco clashed which saw them lose a couple of position as Marc Marquez moved up to sixth. Fabio Quartararo had trouble with his holeshot device not disengaging which spoiled the start of the contest for the Yamaha man.

By the end of lap one Martin led the field by just under half-a-second, Binder the next man as Jack Miller passed Bagnaia for third. Bagnaia then got back past Miller but the Aussie was then relegated further by Di Giannantonio and Marc Marquez.

Fabio Di Giannantonio then moved past defending champ Pecco Bagnaia for third place. These tussles had allowed Martin and Binder to pull further way, Martin leading Binder by six-tenths, the South African then had a full-second on third placed Di Giannantonio. Zarco had made a number of passes to move up to fifth place right behind Bagnaia. Miller sixth and Marquez seventh, four laps down.

Once clear of Bagnaia, Di Giannantonio streaked away with apparent ease. The Gresini Racing man a second quicker than the Factory Ducati rider to pull away, but second placed Brad Binder was 1.7-seconds further up the road, while leader Martin was 1.3-seconds ahead of Binder… The front runners really started stretching out, but would they come back to the pack once the tyres went away…?

Johann Zarco and Marc Marquez were having a tussle over fifth place, which was benefitting fourth placed Bagnaia. Miller was right on the tail of Zarco and Marquez, Aleix Espargaro there also.

Zarco eventually managed to break away from Marquez and then started to chase down Bagnaia.

With 20 laps to run Martin led Binder by two-seconds. Di Giannantonio was 1.3-seconds behind Binder, and 1.6-seconds clear of Bagnaia, who was now being hounded by Zarco. Two laps later Martin led by 2.5-seconds…

Joan Mir went down with 17-laps to run after clipping the back of Luca Marini at turn four. The Yamaha pairing of Quartararo and Morbidelli were languishing down in 18th and 19th place. Augusto Fernandez then went down.

Jack Miller then started to work his way back towards the front, picking off Marc Marquez and then Aleix Espargaro to move back up to sixth place. With 14 laps to run Martin led Binder by 3.4-seconds, while Di Giannantonio had trimmed Binder’s advantage down to six-tenths, and was being chased hard by Bagnaia and Zarco.  Marc Marquez was now starting to be shuffled back down the order after starting on the soft rear.

Binder, Di Giannantonio, Zarco

Fabio Di Giannantonio was certainly not saving his rear tyre, painting some lurid Michelin lines to close on Binder.  He made his move past the South African with nine laps to run, up the inside at turn one and he maintained the advantage through Southern Loop. A bit over half-a-second further behind were Bagnaia and Zarco. The race was on for the podium positions, but the top step looked done and dusted with Martin still leading more than three-seconds, while less than a second covered second through fifth.

Jorge Martin’s soft rear looked to be going away from him as the race wore on, Fabio Di Giannantonio pulled four-tenths out of him with seven laps to run, and still had Binder, Zarco and Bagnaia in close company.

Brad Binder squeezed past Di Giannantonio at furn four with five laps to run. The battle between the quartet started hotting up, which would only play into the hands of race leader Jorge Martin, his lead now down to two-seconds though…

Binder, Di Giannantonio, Zarco, Bagnaia

Johann Zarco took third place from Di Giannantonio at turn one with three laps to go. Martin’s lead over Binder down to 1.65-seconds…

Martin then started to lose a tenth through almost every split… His lead down to 1.3-seconds with two laps to run… His rear Michelin pasting its rubber all over the place…

Johann Zarco took second place from Binder at turn four which stood the KTM man up. Bagnaia then slipped past Di Giannantonio at Hayshed… Martin’s lead down to under a second…

As they started the last lap Martin’s lead had been trimmed further to four-tenths, then it was a bike length, then Zarco through to the lead at turn four, then Bagnaia forced his way part Martin too!

Zarco the leader through Hayshed…. Di Giannantonio passes Martin before Lukey Heights… Zarco leads through ten, 11 and onto the main straight….  Zarco the winner from Bagnaia, Di Gianntonio third, Brad Binder fourth and Martin fifth, after leading at the last lap board… It would have been the perfect strategy if the race was one lap shorter, but alas it was not to be.

Zarco takes his maiden victory in MotoGP – Image RbMotoLens

Marco Bezzecchi was a further eight-seconds down in sixth place ahead of Jack Miller and Aleix Espargaro.  Alex Marquez ninth and Enea Bastianini rounded out the top ten ahead of Maverick Vinales.

Johann Zarco celebrated with his trademark back-flip, just as a few spots of rain started to fall in pit-lane. The Frenchman’s maiden MotoGP victory.

2023 Australian MotoGP Race Results
1. Johann ZARCO
2. Francesco BAGNAIA 0.201
3. Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO 0.477

Fabio Di Giannantonio was perhaps even more elated with his third place while Bagnaia was pumped with extending his championship lead over Jorge Martin out to 27-points.

Zarco’s win helps Prima Pramac Ducati pull away further in the Teams Championship, 526 points puts them comfortably ahead of Mooney VR46 on 441, and the Factory Ducati Team on 418. Repsol Honda is last…

MotoGP Podium – Image RbMotoLens

The Australian Grand Prix Corporation claimed an estimated attendance of 32,450. The highest Saturday attendance since 2012, Casey Stoner’s last Phillip Island event.

MotoGP Podium – Image RbMotoLens

The Sprint Race is scheduled to get underway at 1300 on Sunday, and if today was anything to go by, it should be a cracker. However, the shorter distance would on today’s form see Jorge Martin smoke the field… Unless the rain arrives early….


MotoGP Race Results

  1. Johann ZARCO
  2. Francesco BAGNAIA 0.201
  3. Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO 0.477
  4. Brad BINDER 0.816
  5. Jorge MARTIN 1.008
  6. Marco BEZZECCHI 8.827
  7. Jack MILLER 9.283
  8. Aleix ESPARGARO 9.387
  9. Alex MARQUEZ 9.696
  10. Enea BASTIANINI 12.523
  11. Maverick VIÑALES 13.992
  12. Luca MARINI 17.078
  13. Miguel OLIVEIRA 19.443
  14. Fabio QUARTARARO 20.949
  15. Marc MARQUEZ 21.118
  16. Raul FERNANDEZ 32.538
  17. Franco MORBIDELLI 37.663
  18. Pol ESPARGARO 37.668
  19. Takaaki NAKAGAMI 37.758

MotoGP Championship Points

  1. Pecco Bagnaia 366
  2. Jorge Martin 339
  3. Marco Bezzecchi 293
  4. Brad Binder 224
  5. Johann Zarco 187
  6. Aleix Espargaro 185
  7. Maverick Vinales 170
  8. Luca Marini 148
  9. Jack Miller 144
  10. Fabio Quartararo 134
  11. Alex Marquez 115
  12. Fabio Di Giannantonio 86
  13. Franco Morbidelli 79
  14. Miguel Oliveira 76
  15. Augusto Fernandez 67
  16. Marc Marquez 65
  17. Alex Rins 54
  18. Takaaki Nakagami 50
  19. Enea Bastianini 43
  20. Raul Fernandez 39

Moto2 Qualifying Results

  1. Fermín ALDEGUER 1:31.888
  2. Aron CANET 1:32.230
  3. Alonso LOPEZ 1:32.572
  4. Joe ROBERTS 1:32.584
  5. Pedro ACOSTA 1:32.633
  6. Jake DIXON 1:32.679
  7. Sergio GARCIA 1:32.769
  8. Tony ARBOLINO 1:32.888
  9. Darryn BINDER 1:32.946
  10. Manuel GONZALEZ 1:32.954
  11. Marcos RAMIREZ 1:33.052
  12. Sam LOWES 1:33.070
  13. Celestino VIETTI 1:33.296
  14. Albert ARENAS 1:33.339
  15. Barry BALTUS 1:33.363
  16. Somkiat CHANTRA 1:33.370
  17. Zonta VD GOORBERGH 1:33.561
  18. Filip SALAC 1:33.628

Moto2 Championship Points

Pos Rider Points
1 ACOSTA Pedro 277
2 ARBOLINO Tony 212
3 DIXON Jake 172
4 CANET Aron 144
5 CHANTRA Somkiat 123
6 LOPEZ Alonso 119
7 GONZALEZ Manuel 115
8 SALAC Filip 108
9 VIETTI Celestino 106
10 ALDEGUER Fermín 104
11 OGURA Ai 95
12 GARCIA Sergio 84
13 LOWES Sam 80
14 ROBERTS Joe 67
15 ARENAS Albert 62
16 BALTUS Barry 48
17 ALCOBA Jeremy 33
18 BINDER Darryn 31
19 BENDSNEYDER Bo 26
20 FOGGIA Dennis 23
21 RAMIREZ Marcos 20
22 VD GOORBERGH Zonta 17

Moto3 Qualifying Results

  1. Ayumu SASAKI 1:36.539
  2. Joel KELSO 1:36.675
  3. Stefano NEPA 1:36.755
  4. Diogo MOREIRA 1:36.860
  5. Matteo BERTELLE 1:36.978
  6. Collin VEIJER 1:37.008
  7. Deniz ÖNCÜ 1:37.030
  8. David ALONSO 1:37.146
  9. Adrian FERNANDEZ 1:37.286
  10. Vicente PEREZ 1:37.293
  11. Daniel HOLGADO 1:37.303
  12. Ivan ORTOLÁ 1:37.378
  13. Jaume MASIA 1:37.399
  14. Kaito TOBA 1:37.465
  15. David MUÑOZ 1:37.513
  16. Filippo FARIOLI 1:37.519
  17. Ryusei YAMANAKA 1:37.661
  18. Riccardo ROSSI 1:38.002

Moto3 Championship Points

Pos Rider Points
1 MASIA Jaume 209
2 SASAKI Ayumu 193
3 HOLGADO Daniel 192
4 ALONSO David 180
5 ÖNCÜ Deniz 155
6 ORTOLÁ Ivan 152
7 MOREIRA Diogo 128
8 RUEDA José Antonio 111
9 MUÑOZ David 102
10 NEPA Stefano 96
11 TOBA Kaito 91
12 VEIJER Collin 76
13 ARTIGAS Xavier 65
14 YAMANAKA Ryusei 63
15 SUZUKI Tatsuki 50
16 ROSSI Riccardo 48
17 SALVADOR David 31
18 FENATI Romano 30
19 FURUSATO Taiyo 27
20 BERTELLE Matteo 26
21 OGDEN Scott 21
22 KELSO Joel 20

(Updated – again) Australian Grand Prix Schedule
Brought to you in AEDT by Kayo Sports

Sunday
Time Class Event
0900 MotoGP WUP
1000 Moto3 Race
1115 Moto2 Race
1300 MotoGP Sprint

 


2023 MotoGP Calendar

Rnd Date Location
1 Mar-26 Portugal, Portimao
2 Apr-02 Argentina, Termos de Rio Honda
3 Apr-16 Americas, COTA
4 Apr-30 Spain, Jerez
5 May-14 France, Le Mans
6 Jun-11 Italy, Mugello
7 Jun-18 Germany, Sachsenring
8 Jun-25 Netherlands, Assen
10 Aug-06 Great Britain, Silverstone
11 Aug-20 Austria, Red Bull Ring
12 Sep-03 Catalunya, Catalunya
13 Sep-10 San Marino, Misano
14 Sep-24 India, Buddh (Subject to homologation)
15 Oct-01 Japan, Motegi
16 Oct-15  Indonesia, Mandalika
17 Oct-22 Australia, Phillip Island
18 Oct-29 Thailand, Chang
19 Nov-12 Malaysia, Sepang
20 Nov-19 Qatar, Lusail
21 Nov-26 Valenciana, Valencia

 

news7g

News7g: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button