MotoGP

Honda's Marc Marquez admits it would have been “impossible” to qualify second for the MotoGP Australian Grand Prix without getting a tow from Ducati's ...

Prior to the summer break, the 2022 MotoGP title looked like it was Fabio Quartararo’s to lose. OPINION: Honda is in the midst of a second winless season in the space of three years. OPINION: Marc Marquez has completed the first three races of his MotoGP comeback from a fourth major operation on his right arm and has already achieved more points than Honda scored in his absence.

MotoGP: "When you have a track in an iconic place like this, you will always have an issue with wildlife. There are a lot of animals and not a lot of people ...

"At the end of the day when you have a track in such an iconic location like this, you're always going to have an issue with wildlife. The start from the third row does not mean that we won’t have a good race, which here is always long and tiring - admitted Miller - in the warm up we will sort some things out on the bike in terms of balance and corner entry. I'm sure there's nothing waltzing in over the fences now, because the fences are six-deep with people. I wouldn’t underestimate Vinales either, here he goes really well and in 2019 both of them were fighting for the win. The Australian therefore hopes to follow up on the positive trend of the last few races, with the aim of giving a show in front of an enthusiastic home crowd and, if possible, repeating the performance of 2019 when he got onto the third step of the podium. We will have to try to put to good use our experience in terms of race strategy and tyre management, different from the previous rounds.

Phillip Island should be Yamaha's strongest track in the 2022 MotoGP championship run-in. But Ducati can now match it anywhere.

It’s one of the worst tracks for it all year. It’s going to be a great challenge. On the flip side, Ducati has clearly stepped up its game since the championship’s last visit to Phillip Island in 2019. Gresini Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio took a first pole at Mugello before Bagnaia won the race. Conversely, the track should punish the Ducati of Quartararo’s title rival Pecco Bagnaia. On paper, Phillip Island should suit Yamaha better than any other circuit on the calendar, with its long and flowing beds where corner speed is key: something that the inline four Yamaha should in theory be able to do better than any other machine on the grid (with the possible exception of Suzuki’s GSX-RR), and has in fact been able to do in recent years.

For the past eight seasons, no one has been able to eclipse Jorge Lorenzo's 2013 Australian MotoGP qualification record until Jorge Martin came along.

In a spirited qualification session for the Australian MotoGP, Martin set the early pace in Q2 only to see Bagnaia eclipse him momentarily. In the 2019 edition of this race, the last time the race was run after being canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bagnaia finished best in fourth. [Francesco Bagnaia closed to within two points of championship leader Fabio Quartararo](https://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2022/10/02/miguel-oliveira-wins-motogp-thai-grand-prix-francesco-bagnaia/). In his first attempt at Phillip Island, Martin eclipsed the record set in 2013 by Jorge Lorenzo. Quartararo starts fifth with Aleix Espargaro slotting in between. All three previous records stood for eight or more years.

Alex Rins has seized victory in an Animoca Brands Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix which will go down as one of the all-time great MotoGP™ races.

Marini was therefore sixth, ahead of Martin and Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing), while Aleix Espargaro faded to ninth and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) rounded out the top 10. Then Bagnaia hit the front when he passed Rins at Doohan Corner on Lap 15, and Marquez was into second with a move on the Suzuki at Miller Corner. Marquez passed Rins for second at 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. However, Rins was all the way back to fourth on Lap 21 when Bagnaia and Bezzecchi got him at Southern Loop, and Marquez at Miller Corner. Meanwhile, after a battle over fourth with Martin, Marquez was back into third by overtaking Bezzecchi at Miller Corner on Lap 25, and was still within striking distance of Bagnaia too. Miller overtook Quartararo for fifth and Espargaro for fourth on Lap 3, then saw off the latter when he tried to reclaim that position at Southern Loop (Turn 2) on Lap 4. Quartararo had not long got himself back into the points-paying positions when disaster struck, the Frenchman tucking the front of his YZR-M1 at Southern Loop and crashing out of the contest on Lap 11. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) got the holeshot from pole position and Marquez took up second from the same position on the middle of the front row. On the other factory Ducati, Bagnaia made an unsuccessful attempt to re-pass Rins at Doohan Corner on Lap 10, by which time they had caught Martin and Marc Marquez. Meanwhile, Rins, who qualified 10th, was also on the rise and moved into the top five when he went under Espargaro at Southern Loop on Lap 6. Bagnaia, who had also qualified on the front row, did not make a good start but was back up to third after he followed Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) past Quartararo and then himself passed Espargaro. Still, it could have been even worse for the Frenchman considering Bagnaia led a topsy-turvy encounter at the start of the final lap only to be passed by both Rins and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), the latter of whom scored a 100th MotoGP™ podium by finishing second at Phillip Island.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team Honda RC213V) scored one of the most significant podiums of his career at Phillip Island today – his first since major ...

In the race the former Moto2 and Moto3 World Championship was in the midst of the lead group, going for his best result of the year, with riders separated by centimetres rather than metres. The 30-year-old from Kanagawa, contesting only his third MotoGP race, made steady progress through the weekend and will find out soon if he will again ride Nakagami’s bikes in next weekend’s Malaysian GP. At the chequered flag of the first Australian Grand Prix since 2019 he was just 0.186 seconds behind the winner, proof that the 29-year-old Spaniard and his Honda RC213V are returning to their best.

Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo admits he is facing the “toughest job of my career” to win the 2022 MotoGP world title after crashing out of the Australian Grand ...

Prior to the summer break, the 2022 MotoGP title looked like it was Fabio Quartararo’s to lose. OPINION: Honda is in the midst of a second winless season in the space of three years. OPINION: Marc Marquez has completed the first three races of his MotoGP comeback from a fourth major operation on his right arm and has already achieved more points than Honda scored in his absence.

MotoGP: “Unfortunately, I started vibrating at the second lap, and I started losing positions, finishing 17th. I'm leaving Phillip Island with a smile, ...

I could’ve been on the podium, but overtaking is never easy here. “I thought the two positions on the grid would make a difference. It would have been perfect if I had started ahead, but it’s useless to think about that.

105 points – that's the turnaround which Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo team) has pulled off relative to Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) ...

Intriguingly, however, that means Quartararo’s hopes are not in his own hands – even if he wins in Malaysia and Valencia, he may not win the Championship given that the difference between first and second place in either Grand Prix is five points. With just two points separating Quartararo and Bagnaia when they touched down in Australia, there was always a chance that the Ducati rider would overtake the Yamaha pilot in the title race. Four riders remain a mathematical chance of lifting the trophy three weeks from now at Valencia, so read on for the full Championship picture.

Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia says he “won't think about” the fact he can win the 2022 MotoGP title next week in Malaysia following his Australian Grand Prix ...

Prior to the summer break, the 2022 MotoGP title looked like it was Fabio Quartararo’s to lose. OPINION: Honda is in the midst of a second winless season in the space of three years. OPINION: Marc Marquez has completed the first three races of his MotoGP comeback from a fourth major operation on his right arm and has already achieved more points than Honda scored in his absence.

MotoGP: The Spaniard puts on a show at Phillip Island and takes home a bittersweet victory, with Suzuki's farewell to MotoGP approaching.

At Silverstone I duelled with Marc and at the last corner with better traction I managed to overtake him. We struggled to do it but in some races we had unbelievable pace and were forced to finish in fifth position, sixth position for this reason. Alex then took the opportunity to give an overview of his team over the years, focusing in particular on this last season. This one is for all the team, for the ones who got some contracts for next year and for the ones who didn’t. But then they overtook me on the straight so I decided to stay behind and arrive in the end of the race with a bit more. First of all it will be the last time with the Suzuki here at the Island – said Rins – I’m blessed that I got the first position for this and then for all the people that were supporting me during all the season, during all the bad moments.