- October 22, 2023
Bad weather at Phillip Island this weekend led to a couple of decisions by the race directors. First, the full MotoGP race was moved to Saturday, and the Sprint to Sunday. Sunday’s weather turned out to be so bad, and dangerous, that the Sprint race was cancelled.
In Saturday’s main event, Jorge Martin, who had smashed the lap record during qualifying, took the hole shot and rode away from the field to a substantial lead before his rear tire deteriorated to the point that he was passed by several riders on the last lap and lost a podium position. Martin had run a soft rear tire while the consensus among the other riders was that a medium tire was needed to last the entire race. Martin gambled and lost.
The group of riders that caught Martin at the end of the race included the eventual winner Johann Zarco, Martin’s Pramac Ducati teammate. While Zarco has had a relatively successful MotoGP career, including many podiums, this was his first MotoGP win.
Finishing in second and third were points leader Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati). This was the first MotoGP podium finish by Di Giannantonio, whose seat on the Gresini Ducati Team has been taken by Marc Marquez (Honda) for next year.
Pecco Bagnaia carries a 27 point lead in the championship over Martin as the series continues next weekend in Thailand. For full results and points for today’s race, visit the MotoGP site here.
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