Zarco snatches victory with last-lap pass, Martin misses podium

Johann Zarco has snatched victory in the Australian MotoGP Grand Prix with a final-lap pass which relegated championship contending team-mate Jorge Martin behind title rival Francesco Bagnaia.

Pramac Racing’s Martin gambled on the soft Michelin rear tyre and led all the way until Miller Corner on Lap 27 of 27 around Phillip Island, by which time he was a sitting duck with badly worn rubber on his Ducati.

Zarco scored a maiden premier class race win at long last and Bagnaia somehow finished second on his factory Ducati Team entry, at just 0.201s back, after looking like missing the podium.

Even better for the 2022 champion, Martin dropped all the way to fifth by the time he reached the chequered flag, behind Gresini Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder, and now trails by 27 points in the title race.

Sixth went to Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati), from Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM), Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati), and Enea Bastianini (Ducati Team).

All 21 starting riders had lined up on the grid on medium compound Michelin rear tyres except for four, namely pole-sitter Martin, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), Pol Espargaro (GasGas Tech3) and Raul Fernandez (RNF Aprilia).

Martin hardly made a better start than Binder, who had qualified second-quickest, but the KTM rider tucked into file as they rounded Doohan Corner for the first time.

Miller had made a stellar start from eighth on the grid to run fourth initially, then put his own Red Bull KTM down the inside of Bagnaia’s Desmosedici at MG on Lap 1.

Bagnaia got the Australian back as they ran towards Doohan Corner on Lap 2, before Di Giannantonio made his way past Miller and Marc Marquez followed.

Di Giannantonio took third, albeit 1.6s from the lead, when he passed Bagnaia on Lap 3 at Southern Loop, as Martin stretched his margin over Binder to a full second.

Marc Marquez relegated Miller to fifth with a move at Miller Corner on Lap 4, and then Zarco (Pramac Ducati) forced his way into the battle for fourth and beyond.

Miller slipped to eighth when Aleix Espargaro got under him at Southern Loop on Lap 6, as Marc Marquez and Zarco nearly traded paint just up the road.

Martin was two seconds to the good on Lap 7 while Binder and Di Giannantonio each had more than a second over the following rider,

However, Bagnaia could not shake Zarco and Marc Marquez was under pressure from Aleix Espargaro, as Miller continued to run eighth.

The call came from the Pramac pit board for the race-leading Spaniard to ease off and save his rear tyre.

While the margin continued to increase, that looked to be more a function of Binder beginning to struggle than Martin.

The South African was not alone, either, with Marc Marquez ceding sixth to Aleix Espargaro and then seventh to Miller, on Lap 12 at MG.

Miller then picked off Aleix Espargaro on Lap 13 to be back up to sixth position, as second-placed Binder fell towards the clutches of Di Giannantonio and fourth-placed Bagnaia continued to be stalked by Zarco.

Meanwhile, the fight for seventh was still between Aleix Espargaro and one of the Marquez brothers, but Gresini Ducati rider Alex had usurped a tyre-weary Marc.

Di Giannantonio was all over Binder and would slipstream past the #33 KTM as they sped towards Doohan Corner at the start of Lap 19, by which time Martin was more than three seconds clear.

Di Giannantonio brought the gap back to 2.5s on Lap 21 when he hacked four tenths out of Martin’s advantage on consecutive laps, by which time Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) had relegated Marc Marquez to 10th.

Zarco passed Bagnaia for fourth on the run to Doohan Corner on Lap 22 before Miller dropped two positions to eighth, behind Alex Marquez and Aleix Espargaro.

Binder reclaimed second place when he squeezed past Di Giannantonio at Miller Corner on Lap 23, and brought Martin’s gap back under two seconds on Lap 24.

Zarco was coming, though, passing Di Giannantonio for third at the start of Lap 25 and then forcing his way past Binder a lap later at Miller Corner.

The move caused Binder to stand the #33 KTM up and he lost position also to Di Giannantonio and Bagnaia.

Bagnaia then passed Di Giannantonio at the Hayshed before Martin started the final lap with a lead of just 0.440s over Zarco.

Despite his team-mate being in the championship fight, the Frenchman did not hold back, going past Martin at Miller Corner, with Bagnaia following.

Then Di Giannantonio grabbed third place from Martin as they sped through the Hayshed, and Binder beat the Spaniard on the run to the line.

Miller did ultimately reclaim seventh from Espargaro, while Marc Marquez dropped all the way to 15th in the end, one position behind Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha).

Alex Rins (LCR Honda) withdrew before Free Practice 2 and there were two non-finishers in the race.

Joan Mir (Repsol Honda) went down at Miller Corner on Lap 11 after a battle with Luca Marini (VR46 Ducati) over 16th position, an incident investigated by Race Direction before the decision of No Further Action was advised.

Augusto Fernandez (GasGas Tech3) crashed a lap later at the same corner.

While skies were grey throughout, the rain held off until just before the podium.

However, adverse weather forecasts have led to a further revision to the Sunday schedule.

The Warm Up now takes place tomorrow at 09:00, followed by the 13-lap Sprint at 13:00 (all times local/AEDT).

CLICK HERE for the second update to the Phillip Island MotoGP schedule

Race results: Grand Prix race

Race winner: 27 laps

Riders’ championship