The 2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix delivered an thrilling battle for the win between Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin.
Gresini rider Marquez’s third grand prix win of the season got here in dramatic circumstance, as he got here again from a horrible begin attributable to a discarded visor tear-off to beat Martin within the last laps.
Martin didn’t maintain again in his defence of the lead regardless of the dangers to his championship lead, however needed to settle for defeat to Marquez.
Nevertheless, with Francesco Bagnaia struggling, Martin leaves Australia with a 20-point benefit in his again pocket heading to Thailand and with the entire momentum within the title chase proper now.
Bagnaia salvaged a podium from a tough Australia weekend that was a far cry from the perfection of his Japanese GP.
Elsewhere, Fabio Di Giannantonio placed on a powerful displaying as his 2024 season nears an early finish on account of an upcoming shoulder surgical procedure, whereas wildlife wreaked havoc with dwelling favorite Jack Miller’s weekend.
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Listed here are the 5 essential speaking factors from the 2024 Australian GP.
2015 comparisons inevitable, however tiring
Yearly MotoGP returns to Phillip Island, the spectre of 2015 nonetheless looms massive as a second in time folks actually have a tough time of transferring on from.
Certainly, with Marc Marquez preventing towards the 2 essential title protagonists final weekend, it led to a cheeky query from prime Spanish journalist Mela Chercoles directed at Bagnaia asking if Marquez had achieved him a favour (one thing Marquez additionally sort of did to Valentino Rossi by beating Jorge Lorenzo in 2015… not that the Physician noticed it that method) Marquez took factors off the manufacturing unit Ducati rider, but in addition did so towards Martin.
With Marquez profitable, he additionally took 5 factors away from Martin. The 20-point hole between Martin and Bagnaia is a results of Marquez’s intervention. It might have been 25 in any other case.
“You gave me a favour,” Bagnaia asks Marquez, to which the Gresini rider replies: “At present, sure, no? I took 5 factors [from Martin].”
“I believe it was extra he wished to win,” Bagnaia added. “The chance for a win at present from him was a lot greater as a result of yesterday Jorge was actually sturdy and at present it’s true that he missed the beginning once more, however his tempo was a lot stronger and at last he gained. However I don’t assume he was serious about 2015.”
Inevitably, social media lit up with the suggestion that Marquez was interfering within the title battle once more. That’s an ignorant assertion to make given Marquez is, at this stage nonetheless, a mathematical title contender in third, albeit 79 factors adrift with 111 left up for grabs.
However it additionally doesn’t think about the truth that any rider who begins a race is interfering within the championship battle. Enea Bastianini ‘interfered’ within the dash by passing Bagnaia for third; somebody in seventeenth may have ‘interfered’ in the event that they crashed and precipitated a crimson flag whereas Martin was nonetheless main the grand prix.
In the end, a race occurs whether or not or not it has an impact on the championship. It’s as much as these preventing for the title to ensure they’re scoring the perfect outcomes…
Martin passes hardest title quest check
Jorge Martin got here inside simply a few laps of finishing an ideal Australian GP clear sweep, having dominated in qualifying for pole and proved untouchable within the dash. He led for a lot of the grand prix earlier than in the end dropping out to Marquez.
Nonetheless, he leaves Phillip Island with 20 factors to play with forward of Francesco Bagnaia within the standings with simply three rounds to go and his consistency stays unmatched.
Because the summer season break, Martin has been prime two on a Sunday all however as soon as. Bagnaia in that point has suffered two non-scores and overwhelmed Martin in a grand prix simply twice, albeit each of these occasions (Austria and Japan) being wins.
Australia proved a pivotal second in 2023 for Martin in his title hopes, as his gamble to go on the comfortable rear tyre in the end backfired in an enormous method. On Friday within the 2024 version of the Australian GP, Martin’s weekend confronted main peril.
Rain cancelled FP1 and whereas the afternoon session was dry, there was the ever-present menace of a downpour. This compelled a busy begin to the session that determined direct Q2 passage, with Martin crashing at Flip 4 early on. Together with his second bike arrange for the moist, his Pramac group needed to restore the bike he crashed. This price treasured time, whereas a crimson flag for a goose taking stroll simply as he was prepared to move again out once more pushed up the nerves.
Martin in the end made it safely into Q2, the place he would brilliantly take a punt on a tough entrance tyre within the drying circumstances to take pole by nearly six tenths. A repeat of his dominant dash efficiency would have been on the playing cards within the grand prix, however he didn’t fairly have the identical traction within the lengthy race.
Even nonetheless, he led for 23 of 27 laps and didn’t take Marquez’s assault mendacity down. Whereas he got here away as runner-up, he crucially had the measure of Bagnaia all weekend and confirmed how robust his resolve really is because the title battle reaches its crunch level.
Bezzecchi/Vinales tangle highlights aero complicity
The scary crash between Marco Bezzecchi and Maverick Vinales within the dash race unsurprisingly led to the previous getting a penalty.
Whereas it took till Sunday for a last determination to be reached on account of Bezzecchi going to hospital on Saturday, it was clear that the VR46 rider had braked a fraction later than he had achieved beforehand, and so the onus was on him to keep away from that incident.
What was intriguing in regards to the stewards relatively in-depth clarification (a welcome change to the stewards panel doc) was that they did settle for that the turbulent air from Vinales’ Aprilia did have a hand within the incident.
“The Stewards have thought of the consequences of turbulent air attributable to the cross of #12, and settle for that this disturbance might on this state of affairs provide a level of mitigation, whereby #72 rolled off throttle and reapplied throttle and braked later,” a part of the stewards assertion learn.
As such, they lessened the punishment to a single lengthy lap relatively than the double it could have been beneath regular circumstances.
Nevertheless, the truth that the stewards thought of the impact of Vinales’ bike’s aerodynamics to be a mitigating issue within the incident does strengthen the argument of security relating to aero. For 2027, aerodynamics will likely be stripped again within the rules however not utterly eradicated, which the Vinales/Bezzecchi incident suggests ought to be the case.
Wildlife wreaks havoc, however what will be achieved?
It’s turn into the norm to go to Phillip Island and see some type of incident to do with wildlife. Everybody remembers Andrea Iannone’s well-known seagull strike throughout the 2015 grand prix.
Friday’s follow classes noticed a number of stoppages on account of geese strolling in regards to the circuit, whereas dwelling hero Jack Miller acquired a bit too up shut and private on Saturday with the native wildlife. He struck a rabbit in Q1, which broken his bike’s fairing, whereas a “gaping gap” was left on his entrance fairing after he hit a seagull on the opening lap of the dash.
In the end, the rabbit strike price him the prospect to combat for a Q2 place, which might have remodeled his weekend. The chicken strike within the dash sapped him of 10km/h on the straights and likewise led to some difficulties with braking because the seagull acquired wedged behind his brake lever.
“For positive, there’s loads of wildlife right here in Phillip Island,” Jorge Martin mentioned. “They should not give any extra passes to the animals as a result of if this occurs throughout the race this will likely be an enormous subject and an enormous downside.”
Martin additionally identified that the wildlife at Phillip Island forces a change in technique on observe as a result of a session will be crimson flagged at any second if one thing decides to go for a wander among the many bikes.
Phillip Island tries its greatest to maintain the wildlife in examine and scare it off when vital, however it’s no straightforward process and one with no straightforward reply both. However the hazard the animals pose is critical, and it’s clear that extra must be achieved.
Di Giannantonio alternative debate
Fabio di Giannantonio has been contemplating surgical procedure on the shoulder he dislocated on the Austrian Grand Prix for a while. Forward of the Australian GP, it initially seemed like he would keep it up for the rest of the season, just for the other to be introduced.
The VR46 rider will race this weekend in Thailand earlier than heading dwelling to go beneath the knife. Having surgical procedure now means he’ll (hopefully) have made a full restoration for the beginning of pre-season testing when he jumps on a GP25.
Di Giannantonio definitely hasn’t been displaying indicators of his damage getting him down, as he put in a spirited journey to fourth within the grand prix and was searching down a struggling Bagnaia within the latter phases.
In the long run, Di Giannantonio was just below three seconds away from the rostrum in what he felt was a “bittersweet” race.
Speak has now turned to who will change him for the ultimate two rounds. The title stealing the headlines is one-time grand prix winner Andrea Iannone, who completed a four-year doping ban previous to the beginning of the 2024 season.
The 35-year-old was supplied a profession lifeline by the GoEleven Ducati group for 2024 in World Superbikes and has achieved a stable job, profitable at Aragon and scoring just a few different podiums. Based on GPOne, he’s the favorite to get the VR46 seat for the previous couple of rounds of the MotoGP marketing campaign.
It might mark his first MotoGP races since Valencia 2019 when he was with Aprilia, and from which he was retroactively disqualified after he was discovered to have breached anti-doping guidelines.
Whether or not he deserves this MotoGP alternative is a subject of debate, as is whether or not he ought to get it over spectacular WSBK rookie Nicolo Bulega. The Italian completed second within the standings, having moved over to the WSBK paddock in 2022 when his grand prix profession fizzled out. Formally a VR46 Academy member, Bulega getting a MotoGP shot can be a simply reward for his efforts in WSBK, and at simply 25 may act as a store window second for his profession.
