2024 Australian GP Sprint Race Results

The first race of the Australian Grand Prix, the MotoGP sprint race, saw another victory for the leader of the World Championship, Jorge Martín. The Spanish rider started from pole position and gave his rivals no chance, leading from the first corner to the chequered flag. Marc Márquez came in behind him, having started second on the grid but making a mistake on the first corner of the first lap, and fighting back from eighth. Third was Enea Bastianini, also recovering after taking off from tenth position on the grid.

‘Pecco’ Bagnaia was fourth, conceding 16 points to Martín in the title chase. Di Giannantonio, Morbidelli, Raul Fernández, Aleix Espargaró and Augusto Fernández completed the points.

Marini outside the points by 68 thousandths of a second

Tenth in the race was Luca Marini. The Repsol Honda Team rider completed a solid Saturday at Phillip Island. After a positive series of practice sessions, in the race he managed to maintain his pace and fight in a group of four riders, in which he finished second, just outside the points in 10th place.

His teammate, Joan Mir, also had to battle. The Repsol Honda Team rider started from eighteenth and, despite the difficult conditions in Australia that saw up to seven riders crash, he managed to complete the race in thirteenth position.

The main race takes place on Sunday at 2pm local time.

Australian GP: Sprint Race Results (13 laps)

General standings

Statements

Joan Mir:
“Today was just one of those days where it didn’t quite come together for us. Yesterday I had a lot of optimism for today because the feeling with the bike was better than we were expecting, but today with the wind and the low temperature I was not able to capture this feeling. We changed the setting a bit and probably this didn’t help us because I wasn’t able to push. When things are like this it’s better to play it safe, get some data, bring the bike and myself back and debrief with the team. Tomorrow is a new day, conditions look better and as we saw, a lot can happen, so let’s go for it like always.”

Luca Marini:
“I am really happy about qualifying in 13th, it was a tricky situation, and we were able to make the most of it. The race today was the toughest situation we have had all weekend; my feeling wasn’t great, and I needed too many laps to warm the rear. In the middle of the race, I felt better and started to make some more progress. We need to improve our feeling with the soft rear, we have a lot of movement on the edge of the tyre at the moment. Even like this we were able to achieve a good finish at the end of the Sprint, so let’s enjoy it more tomorrow!”