2022 Australian MotoGP, Phillip Island – Race Results

Update: Alex Marquez has been given a long lap penalty for next weekend’s Malaysian MotoGP for causing the collision with Jack Miller.

* Rookie

Alex Rins has given soon-to-quit Suzuki a thrilling MotoGP victory at Phillip Island with Marc Marquez on the podium for the first time this season and Francesco Bagnaia the new MotoGP title leader after Fabio Quartararo ed out of a dramatic Australian Grand Prix.

Quartararo had already dropped from 7th to 22nd after a scary moment under braking for the Miller corner early in the race, but worse was to follow for the Frenchman when he lost the front at Turn 2 just before the halfway stage.

While Rins and Marquez did Quartararo a big favour in terms of points lost, Bagnaia’s 14-point lead means the Ducati rider can win the world championship at next weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

Home hero Jack Miller DNF’d spectacular fashion after being torpedoed by Alex Marquez at the hairpin named in his honour on Saturday.

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Bagnaia suffered holeshot device problems at the start but recovered well, putting a firm pass on Quartararo to finish the opening lap behind pole starter Jorge Martin and Repsol Honda’s Marquez, the only rider on the soft rear tyre.

Martin continued to lead until being overtaken by Rins, who began the race just tenth, on lap 15 of 27. Bagnaia hit the front of the big lead group soon after, but it looked like many, including Marquez, were still very much in tyre-saving mode ahead of a late race showdown.

While Bagnaia had the title to think about, the likes of Rins and Marquez only had eyes on race glory.

A lunge by Marquez on Rins briefly gave Bagnaia and new nearest rival Marco Bezzecchi a few bikelengths of breathing room up front. Johann Zarco had been too careful to pass Bagnaia last time at Buriram, but what would fellow satellite Ducati rider Bezzecchi do?

Whether the VR46 rider hesitated or not, Rins and Marquez sliced back past Bezzecchi to start the final lap crawling all over Bagnaia’s Ducati.

Rins then dived under Bagnaia at Turn 2 with Marquez also levering the Italian aside. Marquez looked left, right and centre but Rins didn’t leave room for a pass and – just three races before the GSX-RR is mothballed and team disbanded – took victory by 0.186s.

Bagnaia was just 0.038s behind the Honda rider, with Bezzecchi leading a queue of five Ducatis directly behind the #63…

A frustrated third in the world championship Aleix Espargaro was unable to fully capitalise on Quartararo’s error, spending much of the race in sixth before slipping to ninth. The Aprilia rider is now 27 points from Bagnaia and 13 from Quartararo.

Brad Binder was tenth for Red Bull KTM with team-mate Miguel Oliveira recovering to 12th, behind Pol Espargaro, after being demoted three grid places and having to serve a long lap penalty for performing an ‘illegal’ practice start and then holding up Enea Bastianini at the end of Qualifying 1, when the Portuguese mistakenly believed the session had finished.

Remy Gardner’s first and only, for the foreseeable future, home MotoGP appearance ended with a point in 15th. The Tech3 KTM rookie will be back at Phillip Island next season as a WorldSBK rider.

Franco Morbidelli joined team-mate Quartararo, Miller and Alex Marquez on the DNF list, to complete a disastrous day for Monster Yamaha.

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