October 19, 2024
World championship leader Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac) wins the Australian GP sprint race of the MotoGP World Championship on Saturday. His rival Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) only comes fourth.
In the championship, Martin, who came to Australia ten points ahead of Bagnaia, is now 16 points ahead of the Grand Prix on Sunday.
The victory in the sprint (13 laps) is a good sign for Martin ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix, which consists of 27 laps and brings more points. But the weather on Philipp Island off Melbourne is often moody with rain and sometimes strong winds, like on Saturday.
Marc Marquez, who started the race from second place, got off to a bad start and finished eighth, while Jorge Martin immediately took the lead. Behind him was Marco Bezzecchi, followed by Francesco Bagnaia and the South African Brad Binder (KTM), who was doing very well.
Marquez started to catch up and was in fifth place after two laps before he overtook Binder with a daring maneuver. Bagnaia was briefly able to take second place, but he could not prevent his rival from pulling away at the top in the World Championship.
Martin increased his lead to three seconds by the middle of the race. The Spaniard won the duel between Marc Marquez and “Pecco” Bagnaia behind him, and the two-time Italian champion was later even overtaken by Enea Bastianini.
In the championship, Martin now has 404 points and Bagnaia 388. Marc Marquez is further back with 320 points, level on points with Bastianini. After the race in Australia on Sunday, there are still three Grands Prix and as many sprints to be contested, so everything remains open between Martin and Bagnaia, the reigning double world champion.
{“suedostschweiz”:”South East Switzerland Feed”}
