Gresini’s Marc Marquez edged out championship leader Jorge Martin in a showdown Australian MotoGP victory at Phillip Island.
Marquez dropped down to seventh on the opening lap after a tear off saw him struggle on the start, but a supreme display saw him earn his third win of 2024.
Martin got a fantastic launch from pole position and was easily able to pull away from second placed Marco Bezzecchi on the first lap.
Marquez got another terrible start as the rear spun and dropped to seventh, but pulled an aggressive move on Enea Bastianini to put himself on an immediate road to recovery.
Bezzecchi was defending from fellow VR46 academy riders Francesco Bagnaia and Franco Morbidelli in the opening three laps and had the pace to hold onto second.
The VR46 rider was eventually forced to yield the positions after serving his long lap penalty for his role in the Sprint crash between himself and Maverick Vinales.
Bezzecchi rejoined the race momentarily, but crashed out at the long lap loop in the following lap to end a dismal weekend for the Italian.
Marquez continued on his charge back to the front and breezed past Morbidelli on the main straight to move onto the podium.
The Gresini rider maintained the strong pace and set a new all time lap record of the Phillip Island circuit as he tried to chase after Bagnaia.
Martin made a mistake while leading on lap 12 which allowed Bagnaia and Marquez into the fight for the victory.
Bagnaia managed to overtake Martin, but the Pramac rider immediately responded and allowed Marquez to follow him through into second.
The factory Ducati didn’t have the pace to keep up with the leading pair, and Bagnaia was forced to withdraw from the fight against Martin and Marquez.
Marquez was still pressuring Martin to take the lead, and he capitalised on the pace advantage by moving into Turn 4.
Martin responded by overtaking on the main straight, but a strong block pass from the eight-time world champion saw the Gresini rider take the lead once again to complete his recovery ride.
Marquez took the chequered flag just under a second clear of Martin in second.
Bagnaia rounded out the podium but was clearly disappointed to finish 10 seconds off of the leading pair.
Fabio Di Giannantonio had strong pace late on and charged past Enea Bastianini to take fourth ahead of the Ducati rider.
Morbidelli ensured that there were six Ducatis in the top six positions as he beat the KTM of Brad Binder on the line.
Vinales was eighth on the Aprilia, ahead of Fabio Quartararo in ninth as Raul Fernandez completed the top 10.
Home hero Jack Miller was 11th, with LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco trailing behind in 12th. Alex Rins took 13th for Yamaha ahead of Repsol Honda’s Luca Marini in 14th.
Alex Marquez rounded out the points finishers in 15th after recovering from running wide on the start.
Aleix Espargaro finished the weekend in 16th, defeating Augusto Fernandez in their battle to the line.
Takaaki Nakagami was 18th for LCR Honda, while Bezzecchi rejoined the race after his crash and closed out the finishers in 19th.
Joan Mir crashed on the penultimate lap, while Lorenzo Savadori did not complete the race due to pain from being struck by debris in the Sprint.
Pedro Acosta withdrew after suffering from shoulder pain and did not take the start.
