Rins wins one of the closest races of all time, Marquez takes his 100th premier class podium and Bagnaia secures third – taking the Championship lead as Quartararo crashes out
The Animoca Brands Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix made a lot of headlines and a bit of history. The history was the top seven riders finishing, incredibly, within a single second – 0.884, to be exact. It’s also the second closest top ten ever. The headlines? Where do we begin…
It’s Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) who took an emotional win, the number 42 fighting at the front throughout and then fending off Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) on the final lap. Marquez, who was forced to settle for second but got back on the box, secured his 100th premier class podium. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), meanwhile, took third, and with it a fair margin of Championship lead as some serious dramas unfolded behind.
The first saw former points leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) run on and face a fight back from outside the top twenty, and his drama wouldn’t end there but the next was for home hero Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team). Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) overcooked it and made contact with the Australian, sending both down and after both had made stellar starts. With that Miller is out of the Championship hunt, and the title fight got another shake up not long after.
Trying to come back through and at least into the points at the time, Quartararo then suddenly slid out of contention at the Southern Loop, lowsiding off into the gravel in another huge twist. That left an open goal for the contenders still battling it out, with Bagnaia on course to claim the lead… but by how much?
The first leaders were polesitter Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) and Marquez, before Rins and Bagnaia reeled them in. As the laps ticked down the overtakes kept coming, and the troops were forming for the podium fight: Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) and teammate Luca Marini were arriving on the scene as Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) started to fade, watching the chance to capitalise on Quartararo’s error get a little smaller.
The opposite was true of Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) as the ‘Beast’ homed in on the fight at the front. As the final showdown started to commence, there were seven riders locked together: Bagnaia, Rins, Marquez, Bezzecchi, Marini, Martin and Bastianini. Who was going to take it?
Bagnaia led them onto the final lap but with ’20 out’ loud and clear on the pit board, the risk vs reward balance was something to consider. But not for Rins and Marquez. Marquez had passed Rins for second at the Southern Loop on the penultimate lap, but the Suzuki rider hit back straight away at Stoner Corner, and that was how they commenced Lap 27 of 27. Rins went a corner earlier this time with a move on Bagnaia for the lead, and Marquez followed to push Pecco down to third. Could the number 93 cook up one final attack?
In the end, Rins was unstoppable. The Suzuki rider kept the door closed to the line as Marquez hung in there looking for a way through, and right behind the focus shifted to Bezzecchi. Would the Italian, Ducati rider and VR46 Academy member launch a late attack on Bagnaia? He wouldn’t. Bagnaia held them off to secure another podium and homed in on Marquez in a big way on the drag to the line, just 0.224 off Rins’ by the flag.
Bezzechi’s fourth place secures him top Independent Team rider in the race and Rookie of the Year for 2022, as he was left to hold off Bastianini and did so – just. The ‘Beast’ was incredibly close by the flag, taking fifth ahead of Marini. Martin took seventh after leading early on from pole, and he creates the stat of the top seven within a second.
Next up came Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing), who had a comeback on his hands after a tough start but made his way through to an impressive eighth. Aleix Espargaro, on a day that could have paid a few more dividends, faded to ninth place, with Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) rounding out the top ten after earlier having charged as far forward as seventh.
Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) took P11 ahead of a solid comeback for Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Cal Crutchlow (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP™), after losing a few positions off the start, finished 13th and contributes a few more Constructors’ points, with rookie teammate Darryn Binder impressing just behind to take a couple of his own points. Speaking of rookies, home hero Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) scored on home turf too, taking P15.
After drama Down Under, it’s just a few days until the paddock heads to Sepang and the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia. Bagnaia now leads by a sizeable 14 points ahead of Quartararo, having pulled off that amazing, record-breaking comeback in the standings. Aleix Espargaro is now 27 back and Bastianini is the last contender after Miller’s 0, with the Italian facing a 42-point deficit with two to go. The first of those is contested next weekend, so tune in for more at Sepang for Bagnaia’s first match point!
MotoGP™ PODIUM
1 Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) – Suzuki – 40’50.654
2 Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) – Honda – +0.186
3 Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) – Ducati – +0.224
Alex Rins: “First of all, thanks to everyone who’s come to the Island to support us! Last time here with the Suzuki is special, I have the feeling and it’s amazing to go out with the victory. Thank you so much and see you next year, Phillip Island!”
Marc Marquez: “We chose the correct tyre with the soft rear tyre, I felt good and I was managing the race a lot in the beginning, then later on I was struggling a bit with grip but I enjoyed it a lot, that race. It doesn’t matter what position, I finished second and I tried to win. I gave everything, but Alex did a really good last lap. I gave everything I had, I enjoyed it a lot, so many overtakes. In some areas we still need to improve but Honda is working, and step by step we’re getting better and better.
“For me, the second place was so important, when I came back after the injury, the test in Misano, then the race in Japan, the race in Thailand. Why? Because it was important to understand that, inside me, the speed is there, and when I feel okay, the speed is there. But it’s true that now we need to work hard and the body needs to follow that speed, so step-by-step, it’s getting better and better. Here is a left circuit, so it helps a lot, and it’s true that it’s only two right corners where you push really hard – that is 4 and 10 – and in Malaysia, we will struggle more, I know. But, we will have time in winter so, step-by-step, we are getting better and it was the best way to keep the motivation for me, for the team, for Honda, because Honda is also in a difficult situation. They are working hard, as we see this weekend, and it’s getting better and better.”
On 100 premier class podiums:
“First of all, I’m really happy with this podium. It means a lot to me, it means a lot to the people who have helped me in this tough season, and to all the doctors, to all the physios that I work with. We are getting better and better, and Honda is working hard. Nothing has been gained now, but they are working really hard for 2023. This podium means a lot, to keep the motivation, to show to them that this rider that can win six titles with Honda is there.”
Francesco Bagnaia: “I had some difficulties to engage the front device, but in any case, the start wasn’t so good. Then I tried in the first laps to overtake many riders, and then when i saw on the pit board that Fabio was out, a win is ok but if they overtake me on the final lap, it’s ok. I’m very happy and we’re now leading the Championship… so keep going like this!
How do you feel about 91-point deficit to now, how are you different?
“For sure, it’s a Pecco that has learnt more lessons possible, and I said, there are 250 points remaining after the Sachsenring. I think we took a lot of that. Our bike is the same from Jerez and from that moment, we demonstrated that we were so competitive. So, keep going, keep going. I don’t want to think about the Championship now. Just focus on the main goal, which is doing good races, and then we’ll see. But, I don’t want to think about it.”
Fabio Quartararo: “I was struggling a lot at Turn 4 and I already made a mistake at the beginning of the race. Then I tried to push, I was quite far and I could overtake three riders but then I pushed too much in Turn 2 and I made a mistake. Let’s see how we can handle the next ones. I think Malaysia is a good track, I like it, so let’s see how we can do it.”
Is today the day where the championship really changed?
“Yeah, it has changed for him since the Sachsenring, so it can change also for us in the last two. I feel that we can have a great last two races. We need to be focused, to work well, and see, but it can be worse for both of us.”
What went wrong at Turn 4? Is it a move that you felt you should have made?
“No, it was not even a move, and I think there was a tailwind, so it pushed me quite fast, and I’ve made a mistake. But, in the end, I think it will be important to analyse it well – I think we already know what happened – and then go to Malaysia with full motivation.”
Will we see a change in strategy?
“A change of strategy is difficult but I think that, in the end, we need to do our best and, more than that, enjoy it. Because, in the recent races, I couldn’t really enjoy it, and I feel like we need to enjoy the last two races. That, for me, will be the most important thing, because I know that when I enjoy it, I feel like we can go fast!”
Aleix Espargaro: “I made a good start, I felt good, I felt I had the speed to fight for the podium but, suddenly in the middle of the race, the traction control started to cut so much power. I couldn’t accelerate, I couldn’t go forward, and it was very frustrating, because I lost a lot of ground in acceleration and tried to recover under brakes but it was impossible to stay with the leading group.”
Was it an issue with bike or electronics?
“I mean, we have the same tyre as most of the riders in the front group, so I guess it’s our problem. We have to understand what happened. Maverick had exactly the same problem, so it was very frustrating because it’s difficult to have the speed to fight for the victory but we had it today and we couldn’t really profit from it.”
Is the disappointment worse because of opportunity from Quartararo crash?
“Yes, for sure. I mean, he made a mistake and crashed, so we didn’t really profit from it and Pecco jumped onto the podium also, so now we are a bit far. It’s still possible but more difficult.”
27-point deficit; how do you look at last two races?
“The first thing is that I’m very proud to arrive at the last two races still with a chance of winning the title and this is fantastic, unbelievable. But, now it’s a little bit more difficult than before because with Pecco and Ducati’s form, and a one-race advantage, it’s not going to be easy, but anyway, everything can happen, so let’s keep fighting.”
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