Marquez Wins In Thrilling Phillip Island Battle

Oct 18, 2015
3 min read

Marc Marquez won his fiftieth career Grand Prix after a stunning last-lap charge in Australia saw him snatch victory away from Jorge Lorenzo.

Marquez started the race from pole after decimating the field in qualifying, and showed strong long run pace in FP4. Typically, his start let him down and he dropped to 3rd on the opening lap.

Andrea Iannone held the lead on the opening lap, which was crucial for both Marquez and Valentino Rossi as it meant Lorenzo was unable to unleash his demolishing early-race pace. A bird strike to his helmet at turn ten allowed Lorenzo to take the lead, but the Italian suffered no ill-effects from the incident and used the superior horsepower of the GP15 to soar past the Yamaha on the pit-straight. And thus, a race long battle ensued between Lorenzo, Rossi, Marquez and Iannone.

Marquez didn't hit the front until lap seventeen when he passed Lorenzo at the Honda Hairpin, having slashed the gap to the Yamaha over the previous few laps.

Such was the pace of the Ducati of Iannone, the Italian managed to keep Rossi in play for much of the race as the championship leader utilised the tow offered by the GP15 to stay close to the front. This was a problem for Marquez, because he soon found himself in their clutches.

With three to go, Marc was dropped to 4th when Iannone and Rossi scythed their way past at turn ten. This battling had allowed Lorenzo to dart off into the distance and open up and gap of over a second. The Honda found its way past Iannone on the final lap and chucked everything he had at the 4.4km Phillip Island circuit to hunt down his compatriot.

A stunning run through Siberia, the Hayshed and Lukey Heights saw Marquez line up Lorenzo at MG corner and executed the move to perfection, pulling away through the final corner to blast onto the Gardner Straight and take his first ever finish in Australia in the premier class.

Lorenzo settled for 2nd and Iannone held off a charge from his good friend Rossi to finish a superb 3rd. This result was crucial for Lorenzo as it has allowed him to close the gap back up to eleven points heading to Sepang next weekend. This result for Lorenzo also wraps up the manufacturers title for Yamaha.

In the end, the top four were covered by one second after twenty-seven laps of high-octane Grand Prix racing.

Dani Pedrosa finished a distant 5th, keeping the Suzuki of Maverick Vinales and LCR Honda of Cal Crutchlow at bay. This trio were involved in the fight for the podium in the early stages, but the pace of the top four proved too much to sustain. Aleix Espargaro, on the second GSX-RR, was also part of that fight, but fell away as the race unfolded and dropped behind Tech 3 Yamaha rider and brother Pol in 8th.

Bradley Smith's difficult weekend down under closed with a fairly disappointing 10th, by his standards. Just behind was the EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda of countryman Scott Redding.

Jack Miller finished his home race in 15th and bagged himself a point after a very strong weekend for the young Australian. Disappointed to miss out on a QP2 spot yesterday, the LCR rider was hopeful of a good race. This result sees him take the Open class victory, which is of big help to Forward Racing's Loris Baz as it denied Avintia Ducati rider and class leader Hector Barbera the chance to extend his two-point advantage. The Spaniard missed out in 16th after a bad start, whilst Baz crossed the line 18th.

Despite the fast and furious nature of today's race, only two riders failed to make the finish. Both Nicky Hayden and Damien Cudlin retired through mechanical problems.

2015 Australian Grand Prix Result:

1st Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

2nd Jorge Lorenzo, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

3rd Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team

4th Valentino Rossi, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

5th Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

6th Maverick Vinales, Team Suzuki Ecstar

7th Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda

8th Pol Espargaro, Monster Yamaha Tech 3

9th Aleix Espargaro, Team Suzuki Ecstar

10th Bradley Smith, Monster Yamaha Tech 3

11th Scott Redding, EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda