2024 Australian MotoGP: Marquez beats Martin in thrilling duel, Bagnaia third
Marquez gets third grand prix win of 2024 after exciting tussle with M꧂artin in final laps
Marc Marquez recovered from an abysmal start to beat Jorge Martin in a thrilling late duel at the 2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix, while🎃 Francesco Bagnaia stru🌊ggled to third.
The Gresini rider got massive wheelspin off the line when his own visor ꦺtear-off got stuck under his rear Michelin soft tyre and plummeted from second to outside of the top 10 at Turn 1.
Getting back into the top six by the start of lap two, Marquez’s march towards the fr🍨ont continued, with the latter laps becoming a 𒁃tense duel between himself and championship leader Martin.
🍒The pair traded the lead three times in the latter stages, with a massive lunge i𒁏nto Turn 4 proving the decisive move for Marquez on lap 25 of 27.
He ultimately took the c🔯hequered flag 0.997s clear of Martin to score his third grand prix win of the season.
A difficult race for world champion Bagnaia saw him f🐎inish a distant third, 10.1s from Marquez, as his d♓eficit in the standings to Martin grows to 20 points.
As Marquez went backwards off the line, poleman Martin nail💖ed his launch and took the lead into Tur🧔n 1 on his Pramac Ducati ahead of VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi.
Bezzecchi would s𒀰erve a long lap penalty on the fourth tour for his collision with Maverick Vinales in the sprint, whichไ gave Bagnaia second.
Martin led Bagna🌊ia by 0.8s at th🏅e start of lap five, with Marquez getting into the podium places soon after and beginning his charge towards the leaders.
The top three closed right up when Martin raಌn wide at Turn 1 on lap 12 having already seen his lead shrink, with Bagnaia taking advantage on the inside of Turn 3.
But Martin fought back into Turn 4 to retake the lead, opening the door for Marquez to come into second ah൩ead of factory Ducati rider Bagnaia.
The top two quickly pulled away from Bagnaia, with Mဣartin having to absorb massive pressure from Marquez across the second 😼half of the race.
Martin made a mistake exiting Turn 4 on lap 24, allowing𒁃 Marquez to move into the lead briefly at Turn 5 - though would🌼 be relegated to second again at Turn 1 moments later.
Marquez then lau💎nched a daring raid on Martin into Turn 4 with an aggressive move and made it stick to regain the lead.
This proved the pivotal moment of the grand prix, a𒉰s Marquez woulꦺdn’t be headed again.
Martin settled for second, while Bagnaia faded away third. VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio was fourth as Enea Bastianini struggled to ⛦fifth on the sister factory team Ducati.
Franco Morbidelli🍬 was sixth for Pramac ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder, Aprilia’s Maverick Vin🃏ales, Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez.
T𝓰he final points went to J🥃ack Miller (KTM), Johann Zarco (LCR Honda), Alex Rins (Yamaha), Luca Marini (Honda) and Alex Marquez - the Gresini rider forced to serve a long lap penalty for his collision with Joan Mir in Japan.
Honda rider Mir crashed out l💝ate on, while Bezzecchi fell on lap five but remounted to finish ꧑19th. Trackhouse’s Lorenzo Savadori retired in the pits.
