Marquez beats Martin and Bagnaia to Australian GP Victory in drama-filled race

Marc Marquez beat both Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia to take victory in the Australian Grand Prix, as Martin finished ahead of Bagnaia to extend his championship lead.

Marquez’s Gresini Ducati Desmosedici GP23 would be affected seemingly by a tear-off visor strip off the launch, with Marquez being bothered with an extreme amount of wheelspin at the start. Francesco Bagnaia would also be bothered aboard his GP24 Ducati on the run down into the first corner, as Jorge Martin maintained the lead of the race and built an early lead, with Marco Bezzecchi just behind.

Marquez would slip to sixth place by the end of the first lap, quickly coming back through the field afterwards in a similar way to how the Spaniard managed to recover to the podium in the Saturday Sprint race. Marquez would dispatch of Franco Morbidelli, Enea Bastianini, Brad Binder and Maverick Vinales relatively quickly, setting his sights on Martin and Bagnaia, who had started to build an early lead.

Marco Bezzecchi would serve his long lap penalty for contact with Vinales in the Sprint race, the Italian falling to around sixth place before eventually crashing just a couple of laps later at Turn 4, which would basically spell the end of the race, and the end of what had been a difficult and bitter weekend for Bezzecchi.

Elsewhere down the order, Luca Marini had been ordered to give one position back by the team as they feared a potential penalty. Marini had been battling for a points finish, one of the only times this season that Marini has been within striking distance of a points finish. Marini would end up bringing the Repsol Honda in 14th place, scoring a solid couple of points.

At the front of the field though, it would be a three-man duel between Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez. With around 16 laps remaining, Bagnaia would seize the lead of the race at Turn 3, the quick left-hander, before Martin and Marquez dived back underneath the Italian into Turn 4.

Bagnaia seemed to lose some confidence and pace after this incident, the reigning champion falling further behind as Martin and Marquez continued a titanic battle of attrition. Martin with the championship to think about, would eventually cease position to Marquez after a tough fight that lasted multiple laps. It would come down to Marquez though, who benefitted the most with nothing to really lose in terms of the championship fight, as Marc Marquez came across the line by a full second to claim another victory this season aboard a Ducati.

Bagnaia would seemingly struggle for tyre grip, falling to over 10 seconds from the leading pair as they came across the line. Bagnaia also slips slightly further behind in the championship, as we move into the final three races of the season. Fabio Di Giannantonio would come through from practically knowwhere to take an extraordinary fourth place, overtaking Enea Bastianini and a few others despite being injured.

Brad Binder would finish seventh as the top rider for KTM after Pedro Acosta was declared unfit for the Grand Prix due to his crash in the Sprint race yesterday. Binder fought against the top Aprilia rider, Maverick Vinales for seventh and eighth place, as the top Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo also came across the line just a couple of seconds later for ninth place.

Johann Zarco would finish in 12th place, just behind Jack Miller, to finish as the Top Honda rider once again this season, scoring a solid amount of points, followed by Alex Rins, Luca Marini and finally Alex Marquez to round out the points positions.

MotoGP is back next weekend for the Thai Grand Prix at the Chang International Circuit, as we approach the final three races in this 2024 season.

MotoGP Australian Grand Prix – Results

1st Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
2nd Jorge Martin, Prima Pramac
3rd Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati
4th Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing
5th Enea Bastianini, Ducati
6th Franco Morbidelli, Prima Pramac
7th Brad Binder, Red Bull Factory KTM
8th Maverick Vinales, Aprilia
9th Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha
10th Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Aprilia
11th Jack Miller, Red Bull Factory KTM
12th Johann Zarco, LCR Honda
13th Alex Rins, Yamaha
14th Luca Marini, Repsol Honda
15th Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing
16th Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia
17th Augusto Fernandez, Red Bull GasGas KTM
18th Takaaki Nakagami, LCR Honda
19th Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing
DNF Joan Mir, Repsol Honda
DNF Luca Savadori, Trackhouse Aprilia

Featured Image: Red Bull Content Pool