Marquez wins titanic duel with Martin at Australian MotoGP

PHILLIP ISLAND: An unrelenting Marc Marquez edged championship leader Jorge Martin in a titanic battle at the Australian MotoGP Sunday, with Francesco Bagnaia relegated to third.

The Spanish Gresini rider had a horror start but recovered to hunt down Pramac´s Martin and lunge past with four laps left for his fourth victory at Phillip Island. While Marquez won, Martin bolstered his lead over Ducati´s Italian defending world champion Bagnaia to 20 points in the title race with three race weekends left.

Ducati-VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio came fourth ahead of Bagnaia´s teammate Enea Bastianini and Pramac´s Franco Morbidelli. “I thought at one time it was impossible to catch Martin, but in lap five, six, I start to get the rhythm,” said Marquez, who also won in Australia in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

“It´s true that Martin pushed all the race, but I was saving the tyre for the last attack.” Martin was fast all weekend, blasting to pole position and leading from start to finish in Saturday´s sprint race where Bagnaia finished fourth.

“I wanted to win for sure, but the feeling was not the same today as yesterday with the rear tyre,” he said. “But second for me today was okay. Any chance I have to increase the (championship) lead I will take it. I gained 10 points this weekend.” While the championship is effectively a two-horse race, six-time world champion Marquez´s victory kept him in the picture. But at 79 points behind, he only has a slender chance to spoil the party.