Since Phillip Island has been the venue for the Australian Grand Prix, given its characteristics, we have seen great races and experienced great moments of the Motorcycle World Championship. A track that in recent seasons had offered us group races, but this year has left us with a devilish pace on the part of the first classified, with Jorge Martín leading the way and two spectacular comebacks by Marc Márquez.
And Jorge Martín has shown the speed to which we are accustomed throughout the weekend. He was willing to not leave even crumbs to others, and this was demonstrated in Q2 when he was more than half a second ahead of Marc Márquez, who was second. In a world championship that seems destined to be decided by thousandths, the fourth place on the grid was almost 1.1 seconds behind and with Pecco Bagnaia, who was fifth, practically 1.2 seconds away.
WHAT A SCARE! 😰
Accident at very high speed by Bezzecchi and Viñales 😥 The Italian hit the Spaniard from behind#AustralianGP 🇦🇺 #MotoGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/lr2EmF9KvZ
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) October 19, 2024
It was clear that Martín’s intentions were to escape and set his pace and he did so in the Sprint. The man from Madrid came out perfect, he began to build his career and nothing and no one could come close. Meanwhile, paying dearly for a mistake in the first corner that left him in the middle of the pack, Marc Márquez began a ride that took him to second position.
Struggling to overtake the GP24 due to an obvious lack of speed on his GP23, Marc knew how to find the gaps to warn sailors about what could happen on Sunday. And finishing off the Sprint podium was Enea Bastianini who “stole” the podium from Pecco Bagnaia and, who knows, the points he may need to fight for the world championship.
In fact, the feeling is that Pecco could have lost more positions because Maverick Viñales arrived with pace, but a controversial mistake by Marco Bezzecchi at the end of the straight ended with the two drivers suffering a hard fall that gave Bagnaia air. A situation that Morbidelli also took advantage of to reach fifth position.
The Sprint was the appetizer of what was to come during the Australian Grand Prix
If Martín’s performance on Saturday was outstanding, on Sunday things were no less. The man from Madrid is clear about his objective and began to escape from the rest as soon as the red light went out. Of course, at first both Bezzecchi and Bagnaia tried to keep up with him while Marc had to come back.
On this occasion, as unlikely as it may seem, its own “tear-off” screen protector that was removed at the grill ended up on the rear wheel, causing it to lose traction. That left him in the middle of the pack upon arrival at the first corner, but a touch left him room to climb back to eighth place and cross the finish line of the first lap sixth.
From almost falling in the middle of the starting grid because of his tear off… to WINNING the race
Marc Márquez style 🪄pic.twitter.com/W5u4TiZpE7
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) October 21, 2024
While the leading men set the pace, Marc was making his way back up to Bagnaia and Martín on lap six, passing the Italian at a time when Pecco tried to overtake Martín without success six laps later. From that point on, Martín and Márquez literally destroyed the race.
With a pace that no one was able to follow, they opened space behind them, making it clear that only they had the option to fight for victory as, finally, ended up happening. Marc did everything he could to overtake Martín, who played his weapons well and even took a little more risk than would have been advisable.
But Márquez was not willing to give in, especially knowing what Martín had at stake, so when he took control of the race with four laps to go, he did everything possible to achieve the third victory of the season, something he achieved with Martín at less than a second.
OH, OW, OW, WHAT CRAZY
EVERYTHING is at stake and no one holds back here 🤯 TREMENDOUS three-way fight between Martín, Márquez and Bagnaia!#AustralianGP 🇦🇺 #MotoGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/TTZBnTZAji
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) October 20, 2024
But the incredible thing was that on a circuit where we have seen group racing on quite a few occasions recently, they set an atrocious pace that no one could keep up with. Since losing second position, Bagnaia who was third, gave up ten seconds despite the battle between them, with Di Gianantonio and Enea Bastianini being the only ones who managed to lose only 15 seconds on them.
Morbidelli, Binder, Viñales, Quartararo and Raúl Fernández completed the top10 relatively close to Bagniaia’s time. What’s more, there was less difference between Pecco and Raúl than between Marc and Pecco, perhaps this is one of the clearest examples of the level that Márquez and Martín have achieved in the Australian GP.
With three GPs to go, Martín has increased the lead over Bagnaia to 20 points, a small advantage that will allow the Madrid native to adjust if things do not go well in one of the three remaining rounds.
What does seem clear is that Marc could be an uncomfortable rival for the two drivers for the remainder of the season and a headache for 2025.
