In the MotoGP race in India last September, Francesco Bagnaia made a mistake and suffered a crash when he was in second place ahead of Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati). This allowed the Spanish rider to significantly close the gap to the championship lead held by the Ducati man. His crew chief, Cristian Gabarrini, believes it was a crucial incident.

The engineer told La Gazzetta dello Sport that if Bagnaia hadn’t crashed in India, the current situation would be much more encouraging for the reigning champion and not as much for Martín: ‘The crash in India weighed heavily on us; Pecco had caught him, overtaken him, and left him behind, and the other had exploded. Without the crash, we would be talking about something else; there would still be a significant advantage, and Martín would have a lower crest. This is the reality’.

Gabarrini clarified that he likes Martín’s attitude: ‘I like Martín, the way he is, always combative, aggressive, and positive. But it’s natural for him to push things in his favor and try to put pressure on Pecco’.

O conteúdo ‘Without Francesco Bagnaia’s crash in India, Jorge Martín would have a lower crest’ – Cristian Gabarrini aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

When everything seemed to indicate that Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) could win the MotoGP Australian GP, it was his teammate Johann Zarco who secured the victory. In the battle, there was also Francesco Bagnaia, competing with a medium rear tire instead of the soft one that the Spanish rider unsuccessfully risked. Even so, he achieved the best result among those who made that choice.

In the Italian’s view, Martín was the only rider who stuck with the soft tire since the practice sessions, but he emphasized that race performance is different: ‘I think he was the only one with the possibility to race with the soft because yesterday he did many laps and he was quite fast. I think the maximum amount were 19 with stop and start. During all the race it’s always a different story and when I saw that the gap he took at the start wasn’t good enough to remain with a bit of margin in the last laps I was considering it’.

Focused on proper tire management, Bagnaia believes he adopted the right strategy and attributed merit to Zarco’s victory: ‘In a moment, during the race, I was just trying to be very careful with the rear tyre because I knew that was the correct choice and I knew that as I soon as Brad [Binder] and Fabio [Di Giannantonio] started to fight we would catch them easier, without pushing. So I think this was the correct choice, the correct strategy, and I just missed a bit to be close to Johann [Zarco] in the last lap. But he was in a better situation with the traction, he was working very well with the rear tyre, so he was deserving the victory more than me’.

O conteúdo ‘Jorge Martín was the only one with the possibility to race with the soft tyre’ – Francesco Bagnaia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Due to the bad weather, the MotoGP Australian GP was limited to the main race, but this didn’t stop significant changes in the championship standings.

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) solidified his lead with a second-place finish at Phillip Island. He is now 27 points ahead of Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati), who was leading until the last lap but finished in fifth place. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) is in third place, now 73 points behind the leader.

Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) is fourth, and with his first victory, Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac/Ducati) moved up to fifth, swapping places with Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia). Fabio Quartararo remains in tenth place as the best Yamaha rider, while Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) is in 16th place as the strongest rider for the “golden wing” manufacturer.

World Championship rider standings:

O conteúdo Francesco Bagnaia leaves Australia with a gap of more than one race win in the World Championship aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Unlike several other riders, Francesco Bagnaia prefers to work for the race during practice rather than for the qualifying. This approach leaves him in a good position for the race but not as much for qualifying and timed practice. He has failed to qualify directly for the Q2 on two consecutive occasions.

The defending champion from Ducati admitted he is unsure if he should keep this approach: ‘I don’t know if it is good to continue like this, but my strategy during the session is quite different compared with all the others. And it helps me to be very prepared for the race every time, but not prepared to be in the first positions when it counts. This weekend, for example, when we put the soft tyre I didn’t try this amount of the grip. The difference between medium and soft on the left side of the tyre was huge and I was in trouble with it. We finished the work Saturday morning, luckly, and we were prepared for the race’.

In the following GPs, Bagnaia might consider a change, as he said: ‘Maybe we have to start thinking in another way and be more prepared also for the time attack. Because now we move on to circuits where it is very important to be fast’.

O conteúdo Francesco Bagnaia admitts a different approach: ‘Maybe we have to think in another way’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The Australian GP traditionally takes place in October, and often, weather conditions cause difficulties, as seen this year with rain, low temperatures, and wind. Riders are trying to move the event to an earlier part of the year when weather conditions might be better.

This is what Francesco Bagnaia revealed to the press after the cancellation of the sprint race. The Ducati rider believes it would be a better solution but acknowledged that changing the dates is complicated:

– We are asking for it, but I think it’s difficult to do, for some reason. Maybe for the schedule of Formula 1, I don’t know. But it’s clear that for me it could be better to move Mandalika and this race to the start of the season, because Phillip Island maybe in the summer is much better than these conditions. Because maybe the wind will be the same, but we have sun, the temperature is good. Because also today during the warm-up was impossible to warm the front brake and we were arriving in turn ten every lap without brakes. Also the temperature was too low.

O conteúdo Francesco Bagnaia reveals that riders would like a change in the date of the Australian GP aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Francesco Bagnaia was one of the strongest contenders in the main race of the Australian MotoGP Grand Prix, finishing in second place. Despite his confidence in the sprint race and considering that an opportunity was lost due to the cancellation, he believes that it was the only possible solution in the face of the strong gusts of wind.

The Italian man said to the press that this was a missed chance, when he was ready to fight at the top: ‘For me it’s always a lost occasion when we lose a race, because this morning in the warm-up I was struggling, but we found we were having a little problem on the bike and it was fixed for the race. So I was prepared to fight for the top positions. It was an occasion to maybe gain points or lose points, but for me the balance was positive to start the race and I was positive’.

According to Bagnaia, the conditions during the warm-up were at the limit, but the wind made it too dangerous to race at the scheduled time.: ‘This morning the situation was OK to ride – a little bit on the limit, but it was OK. Then, during the Moto3 race it was becoming worse and worse and in Moto2 in nine laps we saw ten crashes. And Celestino [Vietti], who was the last one, has crashed due to the wind in that first braking, pushed out by the wind. We saw an umbrella in the middle of the track, so the wind was quite crazy. For me if the wind was constant was not a big problem. The problem are the gusts that are very intense and also because in the straight we are in a tunnel and it finishes when you start to brake. And with a MotoGP arriving at 330km/h also on wet it can become very dangerous. For me the decision is the correct one. It’s bad for all the fans here because they were still there and for us because we want to race every time. But in this case I think the race direction have done a good job about the weekend’.

Asked whether the cancellation was better for him with less risk in these weather conditions and one race less, the defending champion replied: ‘I’m always optimistics and I have a great confidence in myself, so I was thinking it was possible to gain more points, because my feeling this year on wet is good and it was possible to gain more points – or lose points. So for me it’s always not positive to cancel races, but today was the only choice’.

O conteúdo ‘I was thinking it was possible to gain more points in the sprint race’ – Francesco Bagnaia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

A week after losing the MotoGP World Championship lead to Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati), Francesco Bagnaia is once again at the top with a 27-point advantage following his fifth-place finish in the Australian GP on Saturday.

When asked in a press conference if this result signifies an important day for the title fight, the Italian rider agreed but emphasized that nothing has been decided yet:

– Absolutely, but feet on the ground. We know perfectly how things can change: I was 62 points ahead after Barcelona and lost the leadership in a moment. It’s very easy to start having problems, so it’s very important to do weekends like this one, like in Mandalika being faster also when you are struggling and always try to be on the top.

O conteúdo Francesco Bagnaia extends his lead but remains cautious: ‘It’s very easy to start having problems’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Francesco Bagnaia took another step toward defending his MotoGP title by finishing second in the main race at the Australian GP in Phillip Island. His closest rival, Jorge Martín (Repsol Honda), finished in fifth place.

The Italian Ducati rider didn’t hide the fact that it was a tough race but noted significant improvements compared to the previous day: ‘Very long, very though. I think we missed the Q2 yesterday just for trying more the medium, to do more laps on the medium. This year the grip level was lower than last year and the performance was faster. So, we were faster with less grip and I was sure that the medium was already struggling to do all the race. But we managed to do a good job, a really good job. This morning we improved again my feeling. And on qualifying was very important to start from the front row and we did it’.

Despite the strong performance, Bagnaia had some concerns during the race: ‘In the race I was a bit worried in a moment when I saw that also [Brad] Binder was going away. But as soon as I saw that Jorge was stucked with the same gap, I said: «OK, we will catch him». I was expecting to catch him a bit earlier, but finally we did it in the last lap and it was perfect’.

O conteúdo ‘In the race I was a bit worried in a moment…’ – Francesco Bagnaia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Francesco Bagnaia showed his champion’s fibre again today at Phillip Island, not least because of the way he approached the race, cool and strategic but also calculating and waiting for the right timing. The rider admitted that at the start he saw the competition ‘maybe pushing too much’, and in the end he waited for his chance to attack, with Johann Zarco’s manoeuvre helping him.

In parc ferme, the world champion commented on the race with a clear smile: ‘I saw that the guys at the front of the race were pushing a lot, maybe too much. I was there [near the front] and my rear tyre was already spinning a lot and I just tried to stay calm throughout the race, I knew it was too early and finally I saw that we were catching Jorge Martín. Then Johann [Zarco] was very, very strong in the final part of the race and I just tried to follow him and when he overtook Martín I tried to use his overtaking to get ahead as well and it was perfect’.

And then he was happy to increase the gap in the championship: ‘I’m very happy, it was another very difficult weekend from the start and we improved a lot. We worked hard with the medium tyre and this podium is fantastic and we’ve picked up a few more points’.

O conteúdo ‘I saw that the guys in front were pushing too much at the start; I took advantage of Zarco’s overtaking to pass too’ – Bagnaia 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.