MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin wins the first-ever Phillip Island sprint race. The Prima Pramac Racing rider led the 13-lap race from the first corner and never looked back, finishing 1.520 seconds ahead of Marc Marquez, who salvaged a podium after a poor start.
The Sprint saw a wave of crashes, starting as early as Lap 6 when Johann Zarco and Alex Marquez went down in two separate incidents in Sector 3.
But it was the crash on Lap 11 that stole the headlines, with Marco Bezzecchi locking the front and taking out Maverick Viñales at 140 mph down the main straight.
A luckless incident late on 💥
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 19, 2024
Thankfully, Maverick has been declared fit and Bez has no fractures but he has gone to the hospital in Melbourne for a full check up
The incident is also still under investigation by the Stewards #AustralianGP 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/6z8hsHSmTu
Further carnage unfolded as Brad Binder made it 3/4 KTMs crashing out of the race after Pedro Acosta and Jack Miller had already gone down earlier in the race.
Marc Marquez, who had been as low as eighth by the end of the first lap, fought his way back through the field, even setting the fastest lap of the race at one point.
His battle with Francesco Bagnaia was not to last, however, as Marquez started to break clear to secure second place, Enea Bastianini swept by his Ducati team-mate as well for the final podium position.
Martin’s pace was unmatched throughout the race, as he extends his championship lead over Bagnaia to 16 points.
Prima Pramac Racing enjoyed a good race from Franco Morbidelli as the Italian crossed the line in fifth, while Raul Fernandez, profiting from the chaos in front finished sixth for.
Fabio Di Giannatonio was handeda 8-sec penalty after breaching the tyre pressure rules and rounded out the Top 8 ahead of Aleix Espargaro& Augusto Fernandez.
