Jorge Martín dominates Saturday with pole and sprint victory

Jorge Martín had a perfect Saturday in the antipodes, where the weather played a significant role, especially in the first part of the day. Phillip Island woke up with rain and strong winds, and the first practice session had to be done on a wet track. As the activity progressed, the track dried up, and the qualifying was held on slick tires, although there were still wet patches and the asphalt was very delicate, with very low temperatures. In these difficult conditions, the championship leader excelled, securing pole position ahead of Marc Márquez and Maverick Viñales, with an all-Spanish front row, and Bagnaia starting from fifth position.

The sprint race took place more than three hours later, with the track completely dry but with strong gusts of wind also playing a part. Martín made a flawless start, and Márquez stuck to his wheel, but the rider from Cervera went wide at the turn 1 braking point, losing many positions. "I misjudged the braking and went wide to avoid contact. My mistake for not calculating at that first corner, which is very special, especially when there's wind." This error, combined with the second-row Ducatis outpacing Viñales in acceleration, reshuffled the sprint completely, with Martín, Bezzecchi, and Bagnaia at the front, and Márquez dropping to eighth position, forced to climb back up once again.

The Catalan quickly got to work, regaining positions rapidly. By the fourth lap, he was third, with the two title contenders ahead. It took him three laps to pass Bagnaia, who was very combative despite lacking pace, and when he finally moved into second on the eighth lap, the gap was already more than three seconds to Martín. The victory seemed impossible. "In the end, I managed to solve it with second place, but I have a bitter taste because I had the pace to fight with Martín." However, the rider from Cervera promised a battle for Sunday. "Jorge is very explosive in the first laps, and I feel better with used tires. If we start well this time, I'll try to stay as close as possible to Jorge, who is the fastest rider this weekend."

Martín remained unfazed when Bagnaia moved into second in the early laps, nor did he flinch when Márquez became his closest pursuer with six laps to go. "I pushed a bit when I saw Marc move into second, but in the end, I just had to manage the advantage." To the pole and sprint victory, he also added the fastest lap of the race, which he set just as Márquez moved into second, clearly showing he still had margin when leading.

In terms of the championship, Martín extended his lead over his main rival by 6 points. He benefited from Márquez's comeback and also from the third position that Enea Bastianini took from his teammate. Pecco Bagnaia could only finish fourth and is now 16 points behind the lead.

The scare of the day was caused by Maverick Viñales and Marco Bezzecchi when both were fighting for fifth position. The Spaniard came from behind with more pace and had overtaken the Italian at the first corner, but he couldn't stop his Ducati in the braking and ended up crashing into the Aprilia rider. Both went down at high speed, with Bezzecchi taking the worst of it, having to be stretchered out of the gravel and airlifted for further tests, although he boarded the helicopter on his own feet. Aside from the physical consequences, the Italian will likely be penalized as Race Direction announced that the incident was under investigation.

There were many crashes in a survival sprint, including another very nasty one from Pedro Acosta, who was taken directly to the medical center with a severe contusion on his left shoulder, but nothing broken. The top nine positions for points were closed by: Di Giannantonio, Morbidelli, Raúl Fernández, Aleix Espargaró, and Augusto Fernández, who scored his first points in the 2024 sprint.

This Saturday also saw the qualifying sessions in the smaller categories at Phillip Island. In Moto2, Fermín Aldeguer will lead an all-Spanish front row with Arón Canet second and Alonso López third. Leader Ogura will start ninth in his first opportunity to secure the intermediate class title. In Moto3, the pole went to Iván Ortolá, who is competing with Dutchman Veijer (second on the grid) and Dani Holgado (14th) for the runner-up spot in a world championship already won by the Hispano-Colombian David Alonso, who will start tenth at Phillip Island.