The strong winds persist at Phillip Island, which forced the cancellation of the MotoGP Australian GP sprint race. The start was scheduled for 04:00 (CET).

While rain was also a factor, the primary concern for safety was the intensity of the wind, which was predicted to worsen according to weather forecasts.

The Moto2 race had already been interrupted and canceled 14 laps before the finish, and conditions have deteriorated since then. It’s worth noting that the main race was rescheduled for yesterday to prevent the possibility of having to cancel it due to the strong winds and rain forecast for today.

O conteúdo MotoGP Australian GP sprint race cancelled due to the strong winds aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

What a thrill, what suspense until the last second at Phillip Island with Johann Zarco finally winning in MotoGP! Since 2017 in the category, Zarco had a race in crescendo and in the end gave no margin to anyone to get to the front of the race on the last lap where he won. Jorge Martín looked like he was in a horror film after leading until literally the last lap where he didn’t even finish on the podium!

Everything is in place for the start of MotoGP’s main race, given the changes to the calendar announced on Friday. 18ºC at Phillip Island, last-minute tyre changes, and plenty of excitement for sure in the race.

Martín had the best start and stayed in front, but the highlight was the home rider, Jack Miller, who gained four positions in no time! On the following lap, however, the Australian began to lose positions and dropped to sixth, while Fabio Di Giannantonio made his way down… climbing to fourth after beating Francesco Bagnaia.

In just three laps Martín gained more than 1s on second, Brad Binder, but the question was: how would the #89’s soft rear tyre hold up?

Marc Márquez, meanwhile, overtook Miller and climbed to sixth position, and it wasn’t long before he was in the top five, beating Johann Zarco. The Frenchman responded shortly afterwards and retook fifth place, which worked in Bagnaia’s favour.

The fight was such that Márquez overtook again, but Zarco returned the manoeuvre. 0.487s separated the #5 from the #1. Martín led by 1.668s over Binder, who was slightly faster than the Prima Pramac Racing rider for the moment.

Meanwhile, Pramac sent a message, literally, to Martín: “Breathe”, reminiscent of what happened last week when the rider crashed while 3s ahead of second. However… Martín didn’t slow down and continued to set a frantic pace and after nine laps he was already 2.391s ahead of Binder.

Joan Mir crashed at turn 4 after battling with Luca Marini on lap 10. The Spaniard nevertheless picked up his motorbike and returned to the race, but… only for a short time. The Repsol Honda rider abandoned shortly afterwards.

That was the top ten with 13 laps completed:

The next to “taste” the asphalt was Augusto Fernández who, with 12 laps to go, ended his race after crashing.

Martín was still very strong in the lead and 3.461s ahead of Binder, with Di Giannantonio 3.625s behind the #89. Bagnaia was 1.032s behind the fourth-placed rider and Zarco remained fifth.

At any moment it was expected that DiGia would overtake Binder, 0.045s away but with the gap constantly changing. Both riders had the same tyre selection. With nine laps to go, the overtake was confirmed and DiGia, still without a place on the grid for 2024, was second!

The race was entering a decisive phase and already inside the last straight and Martín was a figurehead as he led with a gap of 3.125s over DiGia. However, out of nowhere, Martín saw the #49 gain 0.4s on him and anything could still happen.

Bagnaia’s life was complicated as he was overtaken by Zarco and dropped to fifth place.

This was the top ten: Martín, DiGia, Binder, Zarco, Bagnaia, Álex Márquez, Aleix Espargaró, Jack Miller, Marco Bezzecchi and Marc Márquez.

Binder still had something up his sleeve and moved into second place. 0.8s separated fifth from second.

With three laps to go Martín was losing considerable time and “only” 1.649s separated Binder from the lead, at a time when Zarco was moving up to third!

With two laps to go, Zarco saw the light at the end of the tunnel and climbed to second place, with Martín 0.955s behind. Bagnaia, meanwhile, was also giving it his all and was third.

On the last lap Martín had… 0.4s on Zarco and the Frenchman, with his pace… moved into the lead! And not only that! Bagnaia also passed the Spaniard and was soon in third.

Martín lost positions again and in one lap he went from first to fifth, with Brad Binder also overtaking him!

And victory! Finally Johann Zarco could win in MotoGP seven years after joining the category! Di Giannantonio finished on the podium.

O conteúdo Seven years later, here it is: Johann Zarco makes his MotoGP winning debut! Martín went from heaven to hell; Di Giannantonio on the podium aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Jorge Martín is unstoppable! The Spaniard showed that the crash he suffered last week hasn’t shaken his confidence and today at Phillip Island he confirmed another pole position, and with a record-breaking lap.

Martín started Q2 with a «message» for everyone else: on his second lap and his first in attack mode, the Spaniard set the fastest time of the weekend so far. The Spaniard entered Q2 with a time of 1:27.869s.

And… Martín didn’t stop there and improved his time once again, shaving 0.023s off his time to pull away from Brad Binder, second, who was 0.236s behind. Francesco Bagnaia was third at 0.425s.

With eight minutes to go, the riders headed to their teams’ garage and were ready for the final attacks. The clock was just over four minutes when most of the riders returned to the track.

Bagnaia was trying to get round Marc Márquez, but he was trailing behind the Italian and every tactic was being used to try and get the best place on the starting grid.

And with the first laps on the attack after the comeback Martín, who else, made history again and improved his own record: 1:27.246s. The #89 was the fastest ever (so far) in Australia!

Binder, very fast, was second at… 0.416s. Bagnaia was third and Aleix Espargaró fourth, with Johann Zarco fifth and Fabio Di Giannantonio sixth.

O conteúdo Jorge ‘Record Breaker’ Martín continues to make history at Phillip Island and takes MotoGP pole position aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Days after the crash that forced him out of the MotoGP Indonesian GP race, Jorge Martín convincingly led the first free practice session of the Australian Grand Prix. He was more than seven seconds ahead of the second-placed rider this morning at Phillip Island.

Aprilia made a strong start at Phillip Island, with Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaró leading after the initial flying laps. As usual in the first minutes, the leaderboard saw several changes, with Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) becoming the new leader, closely chased by Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac/Ducati), who then solidified his second position, even though his teammate Martín moved to the top.

The order in the top two prevailed, while Viñales took third. The riders continued to adapt to the circuit and conditions, in addition to working on the set-up of their bikes. With 33 minutes remaining, Marc Márquez had a crash at turn ten, with no major consequences.

Shortly after, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) moved into second place splitting the Pramac riders. The leaderboard remained relatively unchanged at the front until Viñales reached second place with 21 minutes to go.

More changes occurred with about 15 minutes left when the surprising Augusto Fernández (GasGas Tech3/KTM) claimed third place.

It was in the final three minutes that the leader changed when Viñales overtook Martín. Martín was also beaten by Fernández but finished the session with two fast laps to return to the lead for good.

At the end, Fernández returned to second place, trailing Martín by 0.720s. Viñales was third, followed by Binder and Zarco. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), the championship leader, finished in 11th place.

Timesheet:

O conteúdo Jorge Martín warned his rivals leading FP1 in Australia by 0.7s aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Andrea Iannone is set to make his return to competition next year, following the completion of a four-year suspension due to a doping case. The rider will compete in the World Superbike Championship on a Ducati for Team GoEleven. The contract is valid for one season, featuring an option to renew for 2025.

The announcement came this Wednesday. The 34-year-old Italian was never a world champion in the 125cc or Moto2 classes but entered MotoGP in 2013. He raced for the factory teams of Ducati, Suzuki, and Aprilia, but at the end of 2019, his career was put on hold due to a controversial positive doping test, which he has always claimed was due to consuming contaminated meat.

Now, Iannone will have the opportunity to resume his journey in motorcycling. After four years of absence, the challenge won’t be easy, but he has remained active by training on various types of motorcycles. In WSBK, The Maniac will be riding the Ducati Panigale V4 R, which is one of the most competitive bikes currently in the series.

O conteúdo Official: Andrea Iannone in WSBK in 2024 aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Mandalika hosted an absolutely dramatic MotoGP race! Francesco Bagnaia returned to victory and the lead of the world championship on a sunday full of intense moments, some desperate and nerve-wracking. Jorge Martín was comfortably leading the race when, without anyone expecting him to… he crashed and handed victory to Bagnaia on a plate. This GP could be decisive in the final accounts of the world championship.

The temperature was 31ºC, the ground 57ºC and more than 102,000 spectators in the stands ready to watch the Indonesian GP.

At the start, the highlight went to Jorge Martín, who went from sixth position to first and even got the holeshot. Francesco Bagnaia was keen to go on the attack and was already sixth and soon gained two more positions to get behind Fabio Quartararo (third) and Maverick Viñales (second).

Soon after, Luca Marini received a warning to do a Long Lap, but crashed shortly afterwards, on the second lap, after being touched by Brad Binder. Pol Espargaró also crashed in a separate accident and was out of the race.

With the first five laps completed Martín was leading by 1.594s over Viñales, Bagnaia was already third (+3.088s), Aleix Espargaró was fourth and Quartararo fifth.

In the meantime, Binder received notification that he would have to do a Long Lap after Race Direction found him guilty of Marini’s crash, and the South African was quick to do it, which dropped him to tenth place behind Marc Márquez.

Nine laps in and Miguel Oliveira, last year’s winner in Indonesia, was sixth, 2.145s behind Quartararo and Jack Miller just behind, threatening to overtake… which he did. Oliveira moved up to seventh and Miller was the best KTM rider on the track.

That was the top ten at this stage of the race:

Binder was once again under the spotlight and as he overtook Oliveira, he touched him and knocked the Portuguese off the track, a piece of the Portuguese rider’s bike fell off and… Oliveira lost a lot of positions. The incident was being analysed by Race Direction.

Back at the front of the race, Bagnaia was second but Viñales responded and moved into the lead and soon after… drama for Martín! With a three-second gap to second, the Pramac Spaniard and championship leader crashed at turn 11.

Binder was notified a few moments later that he would have to do another Long Lap after the incident with Oliveira, the second of the race.

Martín’s crash could have meant victory for Viñales, who had more than 1s on Bagnaia, and the Italian was virtually the new championship leader.

And Pramac’s bad luck didn’t stop there, after Johann Zarco also crashed, but not seriously.

With ten laps to go, Viñales was leading by 0.546s over Bagnaia, Quartararo was third and Fabio Di Giannantonio fourth, one of the best races for the Italian who is not yet guaranteed a place in the top category for 2024. Miller was fifth.

There was little more to tell in the following laps, with Binder being one of the highlights: the South African, with two Long Laps, was fifth… but Marco Bezzecchi didn’t let up, beating his opponent and climbing into the top five.

With two laps to go, everything was wide open: Bagnaia was defending against Viñales, with less than two tenths of a second separating the riders!

The race ended soon after with Bagnaia confirming his return to victory and the lead of the world championship.

O conteúdo Bagnaia returns to the wins in Indonesia; Drama for Martin that could have handed the italian the title; From 13th to 1st, like a champion! aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Jorge Martin… again! Martín won the Sprint race in Indonesia, his fourth, and more importantly… he is the new leader of the MotoGP world championship! The spaniard was always very close to the lead and once he got there, on the ninth lap, he never gave it up. He now has seven points more than Pecco Bagnaia.

The conditions for the Sprint race were much more favourable for the riders to show their best this time in Mandalika, with 32ºC in the air and 58ºC on the track. A curiosity: this was the worst place on the grid for Pecco Bagnaia since 2022, at the Portuguese GP, with the championship leader only three points ahead of Jorge Martín.

Here’s how the race started in Indonesia, with Maverick Viñales moving to the front:

Marc Marquez crashed shortly afterwards and was out of the race, and it wasn’t long before two other riders crashed: Aleix Espargaro and Brad Binder were involved at turn 16. Both riders were still in the race, but well behind the competition.

Martín was third behind Luca Marini, who had taken pole position, but he promised to attack the Italian’s position, even more so with the pace he was setting: Martín was the fastest on the track and with nine laps to go he was in second place.

With seven laps to go, that was the top ten:

Viñales was practically half a second ahead of Martín (0.499), but sector by sector the spaniard saw ‘Martinator’ getting closer and closer, and if the #89 was already virtually leading the world championship, he was clearly showing that he didn’t want to stop there. Marini was third and Marco Bezzecchi, still not at 100 per cent, was fourth, ahead of Fabio Quartararo. Bagnaia was eighth.

On the second sector of the ninth lap… confirmation: Martin was the new race leader.

The #12 seemed to be struggling and his tyres possibly didn’t have much more to give. Marini, on the next lap, moved into second and Bezzecchi was about to do the same, just 0.026s behind the Aprilia Racing rider: the Italian then moved into the lead but the Spaniard was able to respond and gain the position.

However, it was expected that sooner or later Bezzecchi would confirm the overtake, which he did, and the Mooney VR46 Racing Team had two riders on the podium.

The race was then over, without a scare for Martin at the end, who still secured another victory and… the lead in the world championship.

O conteúdo Jorge Martin is unstoppable, wins the Sprint race in Mandalika and is the new MotoGP leader aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

A surprise in Mandalika, as Luca Marini clinched his first-ever pole position in the MotoGP. The rider set a new circuit record at the Indonesian Grand Prix circuit, being the only one to clock a time in the 1m29s range.

Aprilia started strongly, with Maverick Viñales leading ahead of Aleix Espargaró after the initial flying laps. They swapped positions on their second attempts.

Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) had a crash during his second lap, but the consequences were limited to lost time.

With less than three minutes remaining, Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) was the first to break into the 1m29s range, setting a very high bar and outperforming the official Aprilia riders.

In fact, no one could beat the Italian’s lap time until the end, as he secured the pole position with a 0.031s lead over Viñales. Aleix Espargaró will start from third place, ahead of Quartararo. After his crash, Martín managed to secure the sixth position.

Q2 results:

Qualifying results:

O conteúdo Luca Marini dominates the competition in Mandalika to secure his first MotoGP pole position aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The practice session for the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix has concluded, with Aleix Espargaró setting a new lap record in Mandalika with a time of 1m30.474s. This performance secured him a spot among the top ten riders who will progress to the tomorrow’s second qualifying.

Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing/Ducati) was the early leader of the session, with Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) in second place. The lap times were already faster than the morning free practice session, with Di Giannantonio setting the pace.

Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) soon moved into second, before taking the lead. Ten minutes into the session, Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) was in third, and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) in fourth. Marc Márquez and Joan Mir (Repsol Honda), along with Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM), also showed speed and temporarily found themselves among the top five.

A change in leadership came with 48 minutes remaining, as Viñales moved ahead of Aleix Espargaró, only for the positions to switch back moments later. With Martín now in third, the top of the timesheet remained unchanged for several minutes.

With 13 minutes left, Aleix Espargaró reinforced his lead, getting closer to the 1m30s mark before suffering a crash at turn ten. This opened an opportunity for Viñales, who overtook his teammate, as did Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) shortly after. Bezzecchi even managed to set a new lap record.

In the customary late-session time attacks, the first significant improvement came from Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), who secured the second spot. Aleix Espargaró then reclaimed the lead, beating Bezzecchi by 0.170s.

No further significant changes occurred until the end. Binder finished third, Viñales was fourth, and Martín came in fifth. Marc Márquez, Oliveira, Di Giannantonio, Miller, and Quartararo also secured direct spots in the Q2 qualifying session, unlike the championship leader, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), who finished in 16th place. Bagnaia was improving on his last lap but made an error at the end.

Timesheet:

O conteúdo Aleix Espargaró sets a new lap record in Mandalika and tops the practice session for the Indonesian GP aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix started with Jorge Martín being superior in the first free practice session at Mandalika. After Aprilia led for most of the session, it was the Spanish rider who set the pace at the end.

After the initial flying laps, Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) held the lead. The Portuguese rider did not improve on his second attempt, and the timesheet changed significantly, with Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) taking the lead ahead of Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati).

While the Spanish rider strengthened his position, the Italian was overtaken by Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha). Quartararo would later lose his place to Oliveira and Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) in the first 15 minutes.

Oliveira, on the other hand, suffered a crash shortly after and slipped down the rankings, while Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) climbed to second, ahead of Quartararo and Marc Márquez. The #89 rider was then surpassed by Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM).

Lap times continued to progress, but no one could dethrone Viñales from the lead… until Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) briefly did so with 15 minutes to go, before the Spaniard bested him by half a second. Aprilia then placed both of its riders in the front, with Aleix Espargaró reaching second place.

In the final moments, Martín outpaced the Aprilia riders to lead the session with a lap time of 1m31.811s. Viñales finished 0.102s behind, and Espargaró ended up in third, 0.536s adrift. Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha) jumped to fourth with his final lap, relegating Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) to fifth.

Timesheet:

O conteúdo Jorge Martín beats Aprilia to lead FP1 of the Indonesian GP aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.