He also opened the door for a perfectly-judged lunge from Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) too, with Pecco picking Martin’s pocket and the Pramac on the soft rear tyre then finding himself mobbed by both Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) late on.
As the dust settles and some more history is made, Zarco gives away his record as the rider with the most MotoGP™ podiums without a win, Martin licks his wounds as he faces down a 27-point deficit in the Championship, Bagnaia celebrates another stylish bounce back from Q1 to the podium… and ‘Diggia’ enjoys that sweet Prosecco of a first ever premier class podium.
Before all that, Binder threatened the holeshot with a great start but Martin held firm from pole, immediately getting the hammer down as the two shot off into the lead and the shuffle began just behind. And that was that. Except this time, it wasn’t.
Martin’s strategy was clear: the number 89, an incredible four tenths clear on pole, had gambled on the soft rear hanging on as he escaped at the front and nursed it home. And the strategy was absolutely perfect until the very last handful of laps, when the Jaws music really began and Martin’s odds dropped off a cliff as the chasing group closed in.
The gap was over three seconds when it was Binder trying to keep tabs, and after an impressive start from an impressive qualifying, next came Diggia, and then Bagnaia at the head of a serious battle for fourth. The reigning Champion led Zarco, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), with elbows out all over the shop in the first third of the race.
By 16 laps to go, Di Giannantonio had Binder well within a second and was only continuing to close in, but Bagnaia and Zarco had been able to go with the number 49. The gap kept see-sawing, however, with the Gresini machine homing in on the KTM and Bagnaia losing ground before another few laps would see it close back up. By nine laps to go, Di Giannantonio then made his move and pulled alongside the KTM on the Gardner straight, taking over in second.
The chase was on and the gap to Martin started to come down, but the number 49 wasn’t making the charge alone. Binder, Bagnaia AND Zarco were all locked together on the simple but difficult mission of catching the race leader, and that they started to do. But was it enough? When Binder attacked back with five laps to go, the group ran the risk of losing time in the battle but the gap was still coming down – just over two seconds across the start-finish line.
On the third to last lap, Martin’s advantage started to really tumble in tenths, with Binder still on the chase and Zarco now next in line as he’d taken over in third. Over the line with two to go it was 1.2 seconds, but Turn 4 saw another huge shuffle and another risk of losing time. But it was Zarco who went for a dress rehearsal and equally well-judged attack, snatching second place and quickly setting off after Martin.
Over the line for the last lap the number 89 had just four tenths left in hand ahead of his teammate, Bagnaia was now the bike behind Zarco and Binder had dropped to fifth. And again, it came at Turn 4. The number 5 slammed up the inside of Martin to take the lead, Bagnaia cut back in in a flash to also demote the number 89, and suddenly everything had changed: Zarco was just corners from a maiden MotoGP™ win, Bagnaia was on the verge of a huge change in momentum, and Martin was left trying to fend off Di Giannantonio and Binder.
That he could not. As Zarco crossed the finish line to take that first ever premier class win, Bagnaia took second and Di Giannantonio was more than able to grab third and his first MotoGP™ podium, with Binder ultimately also demoting Martin right on the finish line.
The battle behind was no slouch either. After elbows earlier in the race there were plenty more, with Bezzecchi slicing through to take sixth from Miller. Aleix Espargaro was even closer behind in eighth, ahead of a seriously impressive charge from the still-recovering Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™). Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) completed the top ten ahead of Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) after Top Gun was shuffled down the order in a Turn 1 shuffle, and Marc Marquez, another gambler on the soft rear tyre, ultimately finished P15.
That’s that from a historic, unique and instantly iconic Saturday Grand Prix race at Phillip Island, and it’s Johann Zarco who writes his name into the historic books with a maiden MotoGP™ win. Bagnaia proved once again he can’t be written off, but Martin showed yet more pure speed. Now we look to the skies as we wait for Sunday, with races all set to start an hour early and fingers crossed for more awesome action Down Under if the weather holds out. See you on Sunday!
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