Marco Bezzecchi hit a seagull but still won a white-knuckle Australian MotoGP sprint race on Saturday, while Alex Márquez’s sixth place inched him closer to sealing second in the world championship.
France’s Fabio Quartararo threw down the gauntlet in qualifying when he shattered Bezzecchi’s Phillip Island lap record set a day earlier to bank his fifth pole of the season. But the laser-focused Italian, starting from second, simply had too much power in his Aprilia to clinch his third sprint win in the last four races. He did so despite colliding with a bird at the start, which left feathers hanging from his bike.
Gresini’s Márquez stormed from sixth to first at the opening corner, but by the end of lap one it was fellow Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez closely followed by Bezzecchi with Quartararo down to sixth. They opened a gap to Márquez before Fernandez seemingly took control when Bezzecchi went wide on lap seven, losing a second. But Bezzecchi regrouped and came surging back, passing the Spaniard on lap 10 and cruising home ahead of him to win by 3.149secs.
“It was a pretty hard because at the beginning I hit a big bird, unfortunately for him, especially, but also for me, because I got scared,” Bezzecchi said. “But fortunately nothing was broken on the bike. Then when we started the sprint, I had a lot of fun.”
Fernandez was second, Pedro Acosta filled the podium in third, with Jack Miller fourth and Fabio Di Giannantonio fifth in chilly conditions. Quartararo came seventh.
“I was very relaxed on the bike. I saw Marco had really good pace,” said Fernandez. “I tried my maximum, but when I saw that I couldn’t follow Marco, I just tried to survive.”
Bezzecchi’s exploits came in the absence of newly crowned world champion Marc Márquez, who needed shoulder surgery after the Italian slammed into him in Indonesia a fortnight ago.
Bezzecchi must serve a double long-lap penalty – essentially five-to-six seconds – in Sunday’s main race for causing the incident, making his chances winning that race much harder.
Alex Márquez, Marc’s younger brother, stretched his lead over two-time world champion Francesco Bagnaia in the battle to clinch second in the standings to 92 points. He needs to be 111 points clear at the end of the weekend to seal the deal.
Australian ends MotoGP front-row drought
In an earlier qualifying session for Sunday’s grand prix, Australia’s Miller qualified on the front row for the first time in more than two years, grabbing third spot. Quartararo set a new lap record to claim pole, pipping Bezzecchi in second. But Pramac Yamaha rider Miller pulled off the surprise of the session, lifting himself from Q1 to secure third.
It was the first time in 749 days Miller has managed to get on the front row, giving himself a chance of pulling off a maiden Australian MotoGP win. “I was honestly really shocked,” the 30-year-old said. “Even on the first run there, just happy to get through Q1. “I was really happy with the initial feeling and we improved on the time on the used tyre.”
Ideal conditions at the regional Victorian track have allowed for riders to put down some sizzling times. Less than 24 hours after Bezzecchi claimed the lap record in practice and became the first rider to go under 1.27, Quartararo took it to another level on Saturday with a time of 1.26.465.
After enduring a difficult season to sit 18th in the championship standings, Miller thought his time was slow due to being so far behind Quartararo. Miller’s chances of a breakthrough win will be boosted by the fact Bezzecchi needs to serve the double long-lap penalty.
The main race on Sunday has been shifted back an hour due to looming wet weather. Organisers confirmed the Australian GP will start at 3pm on Sunday, instead of 2pm, with up to 4mm of rain and damaging winds forecast for Phillip Island.
With Agence France-Presse and Australian Associated Press
