At 33 years of age, Johann Zarco finally achieved the victory he had wanted for so long. His teammate Jorge Martin lost the victory on the last lap, paying dearly for his poor tire management in the 27-lap race at the Australian Grand Prix.
A breathtaking race, with victory at the mercy of five riders on the last lap, was what happened this morning on the beautiful Phillip Island circuit, the setting chosen by Frenchman Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Ducati) to win his first victory ever in MotoGP. Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Di Giannantono followed on the podium.
Jorge Martin, clearly dominant during many of the 27 laps, was the big loser of the Australian Grand Prix, with the tires on his Pramac Ducati completely destroyed in the last laps. Martin mismanaged his tires, and paid dearly for it, finishing in fifth place, behind Brad Binder (KTM) who, at least temporarily, dreamed of victory.
Race film
Álex Rins was sidelined from the race due to pain in his right leg, which he didn’t know if it was coming from the tibia or the fibula. Conditions were good. The sky was contained, with less wind and good temperatures: 18 degrees in the air and 33 on the asphalt. ‘Martinator’ opted for a soft rear tire, like Marc Márquez, compared to the others’ medium ones. At the front, ‘Martinator’ was tough, like the others.
At the start, Martín held pole position for Binder, with Pecco, third, resisting a rising Miller. ‘Diggia’ was in fifth ahead of Marc Márquez. Miller overtook Bagnaia at turn 10, but the Italian responded at the finish line. Di Giannantonio threw himself at Miller, who opened and the eldest Márquez passed. At the top, in two laps, Jorge was six tenths ahead of Binder, who gave Bagnaia a second and a half. ‘Diggia’ surprises by overtaking Pecco. Marc seemed outclassed by Zarco and Miller. Cervera’s man overtook the Australian again on the inside in turn 4.
At the front, the Madrid native from Prama was running the race of his dreams and escaped from Binder, who maintained a good performance compared to an incredible Di Giannantonio, who distanced Pecco. Marc and Zarco were fighting and that made Bagnaia take a deep breath. Furthermore, Aleix Espargaró joined the pair after overtaking Miller.
With 20 laps to go, ‘Martinator’ was two seconds ahead. Unlike Indonesia, where he crashed, Jorge slowed his pace slightly. The good news for the Prima Pramac man was that Binder didn’t reduce the gap at all. Everything was stabilizing. Joan Mir suffered a crash in turn 4 after a collision with Marini. The commissioners saw nothing punishable. Soon, Augusto Fernández went to the ground.
Marc Márquez started to pay for his choice of soft tires and moved down positions. Di Giannantonio dressed as a hero overtook Binder in Turn 1 to take second. And he will be unemployed in 2024. Amazing. Zarco did his teammate a big favor and overtook Bagnaia, who now found himself being chased by Álex Márquez. Binder saw that the Frenchman was coming strong and set out to overtake ‘Diggia’, catching up with the remaining five laps. Zarco also surpassed Di Giannantonio. Meanwhile, Martín’s front tire was falling a lot. Jorge’s income was decreasing very quickly and he had to survive no matter what.
The fight in the chasing group benefited Martin. Binder moved from second to fifth place. Zarco came second and Bagnaia was also ahead of ‘Diggia’. On the last lap, Martín had just four tenths of an advantage over Jorge. In turn 4, Zarco entered the inside and overtook his teammate. Bagnaia saw and also surpassed the Madrid native, as did ‘Diggia’ shortly after. Martín fought with Binder, but had to give in.
Zarco won for the first time in MotoGP, ahead of Bagnaia and Di Giannantonio took his first podium in the premier class. Jorge went from first to fifth in one lap in one lap. Too bad for the ‘Terminator’ in a race with many, many surprises!
Miguel Oliveira climbed six positions in the race to finish the race in 13th place and thus gain 3 points. Very little, in a very discreet weekend for the Portuguese RNF Aprilia driver. A negative day also for Fabio Quartararo (P14) and Marc Márquez (P15) who finished the Australian race in the last scoring places.
2023-10-21 04:24:00
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