Prima Pramac won the MotoGP Australian GP with Johann Zarco and moved closer to clinching the team title, extending their lead in the championship.

With the French rider’s win and Jorge Martín’s fifth-place finish, Pramac scored 36 points at Phillip Island, bringing their total to 526. The team has now a gap of 85 points to Mooney VR46 Racing Team. However, anything can still happen since a maximum of 264 points can be awarded until the end of the season.

Ducati remains in third place as the top factory team, trailing the VR46 by 23 points and the leader by 108 points. The Red Bull KTM is in third place, with Aprilia in fourth, 50 and 63 points behind Ducati, respectively. GasGas Tech3 and Repsol Honda have not yet reached the 100-point mark, sitting in tenth and eleventh places.

Regarding the constructors’ championship, there are no major changes. Ducati, already crowned champions, now has a total of 552 points, compared to KTM’s 296. The Austrians have slightly widened their lead over Aprilia, which remains less than the value of a win in a main race. Yamaha has pulled away from Honda in the battle for fourth place, holding a four-point advantage.

Constructor and team championships:

O conteúdo Prima Pramac closes in on the team title once again aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

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 once again failed to secure direct qualification for the second phase of qualifying. This Friday, he struggled with his bike and could only manage an 11th place in practice, which left the Ducati rider 0.186s behind and relegated him to Q1.

The championship leader explained he hadn’t the ideal strategy to the time attack: ‘As soon as I put the soft rear for the time attack, I started having problems, so maybe the best strategy was to start like all the other riders – more or less – with the soft, analyse before what was the reaction of the soft. But we decided that, the strategy maybe was the best in terms of the race’.

Beyond the strategy, Bagnaia admitted he is feeling some troubles with the bike: ‘I’m struggling a lot on the acceleration, on the entry of the fast corners my bike is too aggressive, very nervous. For example, from the last corner to the finish line I’m losing two tenths for [Jorge] Martín and this is unbelieavable considering that I’m missing traction in all the track. This was more or less the issue, but like in Mandalika the feeling with the bike is not that bad. So, this is strange’.

It has been a recurring pattern in 2023 for the Italian to start a Grand Prix weekend less strongly on a Friday and progress until Sunday. And, although it doesn’t seem like an exception now in Australia, Bagnaia believes he did a good job on this first day:

– The thing is: it’s strange that we move from one circuit to another circuit, more or less with the same setting, and for me is not working, every time. In Mandalika wasn’t the first time; it was more or less all the season that we arrived Friday, we struggle a lot; Saturday it’s better; and then on Sunday we are the fastest. In this case we have a day less for being the fastest, but it’s also true that in this track is more difficult to have a clear advantage. Looking to the pace we had this morning, looking to the pace I had this afternoon, we were one of the most competitives in terms of lap times, in terms of consistency with the tyres. We used the medium, more or less all the others used the soft. So for me our work was better than the others today. We have just to improve on starting already with a better feeling.

O conteúdo ‘I’m struggling a lot; on the entry of the fast corners my bike is too aggressive’ – Francesco Bagnaia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.