Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati) went from first to fifth in the final round of the Australian MotoGP GP to almost decisively exit the championship, with Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) in 13th and Johann Zarco (Ducati) taking his debut victory achieved.
The Portuguese rider, who started from 19th on the grid for an early race from Sunday to Saturday, crossed the line 19.443 seconds behind the winner, Johann Zarco (Ducati), who took his first victory in the Premier League achieved. class, having won two Moto2 titles.
Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), who was in fifth place, took advantage of Zarco’s ride on the last lap and jumped to second place, 0.201 seconds behind the winner, while Fábio Di Giannantonio (Ducati), also Italian, made his debut made – on the podium, third, 0.477 behind Zarco.
“I tried to save a tire for the end, where I know I am strong. The tire was moving but I saw that there was still a little, I attacked the group,” explained the French driver, who with small feet achieved victory. , after starting from fifth position.
The French rider celebrated with a somersault with the fans, something that had not happened since the 2016 Valencia GP, the date of Zarco’s last victory in the Speed World Championship and then in the Moto2 category, which he won twice won.
This was a dramatic end to a race dominated from start to finish by Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati). But a wrong tire choice (he opted for a hard front and a soft rear) ultimately exploded in his hands, because the fuse was one lap too short.
Martin was under pressure from South African Brad Binder (KTM) straight from the start, but held the lead and cruised to what looked like a dominant victory.
As in the previous round, the Pramac driver in Indonesia achieved a lead of up to 3.5 seconds, thanks to the greater traction of the soft tire.
However, with eight laps to go the pace started to slow as the rubber on his Ducati fell apart.
Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia struggled to maintain the pace. Starting from third place he dropped to fourth place. At that point, Martin was virtually four points away from capturing the championship.
But the final laps were painful for the Spanish rider, who saw Binder coming and brought with him Fábio Di Giannantonio, who does not yet have a place in next year’s field as he will be replaced by Marc Márquez (Honda) in the Gresini- team . Close behind were Bagnaia and Zarco, who came together in the closing laps.
The French driver, who was usually strong in the closing stages of the races, attacked Bagnaia and Binder and also passed Di Giannantonio on the penultimate lap.
When he thought he could serve as a guard of honor for his teammate, who is fighting for the world title, Zarco had no problem and took advantage of the visible difficulties Martin felt to overtake him in the fourth corner of the last lap.
The two almost touched and Bagnaia took advantage of the Madrid native’s confusion by jumping into second place and delivering a blow that could be decisive in the championship.
Jorge Martin would lose another second and finish in fifth place, 27 points behind Bagnaia in the championship.
Miguel Oliveira, who started from 19th place, managed to regain six places and finished in 13th place. Still, he lost one position in the championship, dropping from 13th to 14th, overtaken by Di Giannantonio.
The next race, the 17th of the 20 planned, is the Thai GP, which Miguel Oliveira won in 2022, and which will be held next weekend.
Before that, the drivers still have the sprint race of the Australian GP, scheduled for Sunday, weather conditions permitting.
The race was brought forward to 3am the next morning, Lisbon time.
Source: DN
