Finally, the Devil said enough. Fabio Quartararo threw in the towel in Australia and handed over the leadership of MotoGP to Pecco Bagnaia, who could already be world champion in Malaysia. The Yamaha rider fell and was erased from the fight for victory at Phillip Island, which went to Álex Rins, two years later. Second was Marc Márquez and third, Bagnaia, launched for the crown.
At the start, Martín maintained the privileged position of pole, with Márquez second and Bagnaia third, Aleix fourth and Quartararo fifth; all the protagonists in front, glued. With those positions, the Italian from Ducati would be the leader by 3 points. The surprise was Àlex Márquez, seventh, glued to Marini’s wheel.
The one who was running ultramotivated was Jack Miller, wanting to mess it up at home. The Ducati rider started eighth and on the third lap he was already fourth, overtaking Aleix Espargaró and trailing behind his leader.
Quartararo’s tragedy took shape on the fourth lap. The Yamaha rider was riding in seventh position, behind Marini, he suffered a whiplash from the motorcycle when he reached turn 4 and had to leave the extension of the long lap track to avoid falling. The Frenchman fell back to 22nd place, the last one, more than 6 seconds behind the leader Martín. The Devil said goodbye to the leadership that he had since Portugal, in April. He made up some positions, up to 19th, but on lap 11 he crashed at turn 2. Total disaster. Goodbye to six months of leadership, just with two races to go.
Their direct rivals smelled the blood and saw their great opportunity. Aleix Espargaró was fifth, but Bagnaia was overtaken by an impetuous Rins, who had climbed to a podium position, provisionally occupied by three Spaniards on the eighth lap of the 27.
The title fight was mathematically left without one of the contenders. Jack Miller went down on the ninth lap due to a crash. He ran into Àlex Márquez at turn 4 and was left with no chance of qualifying for the crown. The Catalan apologized to the Australian.
Quartararo’s fall revived the fight for victory in the middle of the race. Bagnaia and Aleix were duly informed, “20 out”, and tightened the screws. The Italian, fourth, to approach Márquez, who closed the trio on the podium; and that of Aprilia, sixth, to approach Bezzecchi.
Ahead, Rins took command (v. 14/27) but for a short time. Bagnaia went on the attack bike and overtook Martín to take third, then Rins and Márquez, and took the lead on lap 15/27. The Italian automatically got 23 points over Quartararo and 33 over Aleix, who did not go beyond 6th place, so the Ducati rider could even be champion in the next race in Malaysia.
With six laps to go, Rins tried to blow up the race. He took the lead provisionally from Bagnaia, but it lasted only a few corners as he overdid it and dropped to third. The Ducati rider regained command protected by one of his own, Bezzecchi, who had overtaken Márquez, fourth behind Rins.
But with three laps to go, the two Catalans returned to the fray. Both overtook Bezzecchi, with Rins second and Márquez third. The three rolled in a handkerchief. Marc was second with two laps to go, but Rins recovered him to start the last lap in a better position.
On the last lap, Rins went all out and passed Bagnaia, Márquez followed suit and fell in behind the Suzuki. The Barcelona player from Nou Barris closed all the gaps to the one from Cervera, who was looking for his first win of the year and his comeback. Álex was great, scoring his first victory since Aragón 2020. His best farewell from Suzuki.
Márquez returned to the podium, number 100 in MotoGP and 139 of his career (5th in history), his first drawer on his return. And Bagnaia closed the podium trio and, above all, took command of the World Championship after an exceptional comeback, worthy of a champion: he had cut the 91 points that Quartararo had taken after the German GP, ??scratched race after race in the last eight.
Pecco can already be champion in Malaysia: a victory is enough for him, with the Frenchman off the podium. He would be the shortest leader… to take the hardest crown. In eight races he has given Quartararo 103 points. From being at 91 to adding 14.
