The battle for 2023 MotoGP title honours continues on at Phillip Island, In Australia, this weekend with round 16 of the world series.
There a lot on the line after some amazing twists of fate on both Saturday and Sunday at the previous round at Mandalika.
On Saturday Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) continued his stunning run, taking the championship lead for the first time as he won his fourth Sprint on the bounce and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) struggled to eighth after failing to make it out of Q1.
But on Sunday, while leading by a country mile Martin’s run came undone after a small mistake saw him go off-line and onto a dirty part of the circuit which resulted in him going down at the next corner. He watched on from the fence as his newly acquired championship lead disappeared in front of his very eyes.
Bagnaia had already been on quite some mission to slice through the pack. With Martin’s crash, third became second and then the Italian attacked Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) to take the lead and win. A great performance from ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia after some had already started to write him off.
Last year, Bagnaia was on the podium and took the championship lead that would lead to his first premier class crown on this very turf. Martin, after some hot pace early on, was only seventh … but the top seven were covered by eight-tenths.
Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), meanwhile, isn’t out of it yet either. It’s a long shot, but the Italian soldiered on at Mandalika despite that recent collarbone surgery, and in Australia last year was very, very fast – as was team-mate Luca Marini.
Despite their injuries both have won races at recent rounds and have been showing great speed, Marini scoring pole and the sprint race victory in Indonesia last time out.
Can Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) join that fight at the front?
Has Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP) got more impressive form after his best finish yet?
What about his team-mate Alex Marquez who is still on the road to recovery after fracturing his ribs?
And what can we expect from Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) as he gets back in the groove? Eight Ducatis will be roaring down that Gardner Straight and that will be some sight to behold.
If you listed the venues you’d expect Vinales to threaten at the front, Phillip Island would definitely feature.
Coming off the back of a great performance in Indonesia too, Vinales really could be one to watch.
Vinales and Fabio Quartararo closed back in on Bagnaia last weekend, and both could likely figure this weekend too …
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), meanwhile, arrives from bad luck and a strange tyre choice in Indonesia that brought him undone after showing blistering pace earlier in the weekend.
Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team) would also like a little luck back after a bit of a shunting from former team-mate Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) at Mandalika.
Photo courtesy Ducati
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