MOTO GP

Marc Márquez nears a tenth world title at Phillip Island

Spaniard Marc Márquez won the Sprint race at Phillip Island—a venue that serves as the stage for the Australian Grand Prix—leading a Ducati 1-2-3 finish ahead of his brother, Álex Márquez, and Italian rider Fabio Di Giannantonio. With this result, Márquez has taken the lead in the 2026 MotoGP standings, following a crash by fellow Spaniard Jorge Martín, who had to be stretchered off the track.

The battle for the win was defined by a duel between the top two riders in the championship, with the lead changing hands multiple times until Martín crashed on the eighth of 13 laps while running in second place.

How the Australian GP qualifying session unfolded: The day began with overcast skies and a wet track for the pole-position battle at Phillip Island. As MotoGP activities got underway, the air temperature was 16°C, with the track surface at 21°C; winds were blowing at 7 km/h, and relative humidity stood at 86% as the starting grid began to take shape.

There were some changes to the rider lineup this weekend at Pramac and Gresini. Following Toprak Razgatlıoğlu’s withdrawal from the remainder of the season due to a shoulder injury, Yamaha test rider Augusto Fernández was brought in to compete in the Australian round. Meanwhile, at Gresini, Fermín Aldeguer also sat out the event, with Iker Lecuona called in as his replacement.

Additionally, Luca Marini was sidelined for Honda on Friday after contracting a virus and developing a fever. The Italian rider was declared unfit to continue for the rest of the Australian GP weekend.

All riders opted for soft rain tires for the 30-minute Free Practice 2 (FP2) session. Even before any lap times were recorded, Pecco Bagnaia’s GP26 encountered issues out on the track. Marc Márquez took the early lead with a time of 1:40.524, followed by Jack Miller, Jorge Martín, Iker Lecuona, and Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Marc Márquez remained in the lead for the first ten minutes of the session, improving his pace significantly to 1:38.676. The Spaniard opened up a one-second gap over Marco Bezzecchi, who sat in second place. Further down the order, Diogo Moreira held the 11th position.

After the final round of pit stops, rain began to fall again at Phillip Island, hindering the riders' last-ditch efforts during the FP2 session. Even so, Marc Márquez lowered his time to 1min37s112 and finished the session in the lead, 0.8 seconds ahead of Pedro Acosta, who took second place. Martín, Bezzecchi, and Zarco rounded out the top five, with Moreira in 10th place.

The Aprilia rider, who arrived in Australia with a two-point lead over Márquez, lost control of his bike at turn eight—after riding over the kerb at the previous corner—and was subsequently transported to the circuit’s medical center.

Medical examinations revealed a fracture of the radius and a suspected fracture at the distal end of the ulna, near the wrist; consequently, Martín has been declared unfit to compete in Sunday’s main race.

Márquez, who started from pole position, maintained the lead at the start, while Martín moved up from fourth to second and quickly joined the fight for the front.

The Aprilia rider managed to take the lead, but an error on the fifth lap allowed his rival to reclaim the top spot. The back-and-forth overtaking continued until the crash that forced Martín out of the race.

Marc Márquez made an excellent start to defend his pole position, while Jorge Martín moved past both Álex Márquez and Johann Zarco—the latter having previously overtaken the Gresini rider. Álex Márquez fought back early in the second lap, with Pedro Acosta also in the mix in fifth place.

Álex Márquez launched an attack on Martín, who responded a few corners later by challenging Marc; however, Marc ran wide, and the Ducati rider successfully defended his lead. On his second attempt, he successfully overtook Martín, while Acosta passed Álex after getting past Zarco. Further back, Pecco Bagnaia retired from the race.

Martín and Marc began to pull away from the rest of the field, with Álex returning the favor to Acosta, while Zarco retired due to a mechanical issue. On the fifth lap, Martín made a mistake—managing to avoid a crash—but Márquez seized the opportunity to take the lead.

In the following corner, Martín challenged again, but Marc defended his position well. This allowed Álex to close the gap, leaving behind Acosta, who began to struggle and conceded fourth place to Fabio Di Giannantonio, with Marco Bezzecchi also lurking nearby.

Jorge Martín attempted to overtake Marc Márquez several times, but the Ducati rider held his line firmly and managed to protect his lead. With five laps remaining, Martín lost control of his Aprilia and crashed at Turn 8, requiring him to be taken off the track on a stretcher. Shortly after, Raúl Fernández also retired from the race.

From that point on, Marc Márquez simply withstood the pressure from Álex Márquez to secure the victory, while Fabio Di Giannantonio defended his podium spot against Marco Bezzecchi. Pedro Acosta finished fifth, followed by Brad Binder and Jack Miller, with Diogo Moreira edging out Iker Lecuona to claim the final point.

In the closing laps, Álex Márquez and Di Giannantonio drew closer to the winner, but they could not prevent an all-Ducati podium.

Bezzecchi recovered from 12th place at the end of the first lap to finish fourth, 1.074 seconds behind, ahead of Spaniard Pedro Acosta (KTM) in fifth, 3.689 seconds back. Japanese rider Ai Ogura (Aprilia) crossed the finish line in sixth place but received an eight-second penalty for a tire pressure infringement, dropping him to 13th.

The sanction promoted South African Brad Binder (KTM) to sixth, Australian Jack Miller (Yamaha) to seventh, Brazilian Diogo Moreira (Honda) to eighth, and Spaniard Iker Lecuona (Ducati) to ninth—the final points-scoring position.

With his ninth sprint race victory of the season, the reigning champion now has 365 points—10 more than Martín and 50 more than Italian rider Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia), who finished fourth in the Australian race.

Jorge Martín has sustained a fracture to his radius...The Spaniard fractured his right radius following a crash during the Sprint race at the Australian Grand Prix, meaning he will be unable to compete in the final race of the MotoGP World Championship event at Phillip Island.

It is a massive blow for the Madrid-born rider, whose 2026 MotoGP title aspirations have been severely hampered after he injured his right wrist in a high-speed crash during the Phillip Island Sprint while battling for the win against Marc Márquez.

Martín, who arrived at the iconic Australian circuit as the overall championship leader, was putting on a masterclass in overtaking against his main title rival until, on the eighth of 13 laps, he lost control of his Aprilia RS-GP at high speed at Turn 8.

Alarm bells rang when the Spanish rider had to be carried away on a stretcher to the medical center, where initial X-rays revealed a fracture to his right radius, as well as a possible fracture to the distal end of his right ulna—rendering him unfit for tomorrow’s race in Australia, according to Aprilia.

Minutes later, Franco Perona, the team doctor for Aprilia, confirmed to DAZN that Martín will need to undergo a CT scan to determine the full extent of the injury, whether surgery is required, and, consequently, his expected recovery time.

by Autonews