MotoGP paddock descends on resurfaced Phillip Island – Preview

2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round 17 – Phillip Island
Qatar Airways Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix

From a pivotal weekend at Motegi, the points gap at the top is now back down to just 10 points heading into Phillip Island for the Qatar Airways Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

The full Phillip Island track has been resurfaced. At Turn 1 in the braking area there is a new kerb, extended asphalt and gravel run-off straight ahead. New tyre barriers have been added at T3, and new spectator fence has been added at T4, T6 and T10. There’s a new guardrail and service road on the left of T5, and new asphalt run-off and gravel extended from T8 to T9. The gravel area at T11 has also been extended and there is a new kerb on the exit of T12.

A perfectly-timed double from reigning Champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) was matched by a weekend soaking up the pressure from Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) to bring the two closer than they have been for some time in the standings, and that 1-2 in the Grand Prix also means the distance back to Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) is now almost insurmountable. But almost is only almost.

The last stand for Bastianini and Marquez in 2024 will be made at a place of legends, and as the venue hosts its first Tissot Sprint after weather obliged the timetable switch last year. Neither Bagnaia nor Martin have won at Phillip Island either and now they can afford to lose – but not to falter. Bastianini’s record at the venue, with a best of P5, says the Beast may be looking for less dramatic but equally seismic circumstances as 2023 to keep him in the chase. Marquez, meanwhile, has the best record at the track of anyone who’ll be racing it this weekend. Will we get one more bout of fireworks? Four wins, three further podiums and a Stoner-equalling run of pole positions Down Under near guarantees Marquez will be able to try.

Fireworks will be the aim for many, however, and many who don’t need to think about points or anything more than the rider ahead. First up, home hero Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) as he got his elbows out at the front in Motegi before fading slightly to a top ten.

Next up, his team-mate Brad Binder, who was promised more from Japan than what he left with. But of no rider is that more true than Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) as the rookie took his first MotoGP pole position and then took off right near the front at Motegi… before crashing on both Saturday and Sunday. Acosta is sure to come out swinging.

Pedro Acosta

“It’s been a good week at home after so many races and trips, I’ve been able to rest, disconnect, and also train where I like the most. We have four very intense Grands Prix left and we will finish our first season as a MotoGP rider, I hope to continue in the same dynamic as the weekend of Motegi, but saving the crashes! Australia is the first weekend of the four remaining and it’s a circuit that I love, it’s the most demanding of the championship and I hope I can have a good result there. The only handicap in Australia for a guy from Mazarron is the cold… but we will try to fight it!”

There are some with notable records at the track too: Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) has often found something special at the Island, and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) will be an interesting one to watch at an almost polar opposite layout to the home of hard braking at Motegi.

Marco Bezzecchi

“Phillip Island is a track to enjoy: very fast, especially the final sector and very, very beautiful. As always, we will have to deal with the weather, with wind, cold, rain, it will not be easy, but it is an aspect that we know we have to take into consideration. In Japan, we did a good job, we were perhaps not as competitive as in Mandalika, but we collected solid placings and, even with different grip conditions, we managed to be closer to the group of the top guys. Let’s continue like this, three very demanding weeks await us but we can make another step forward.”

Fabio Di Giannantonio

“The Phillip Island circuit is truly unique, from all points of view. One of my favorite, very fast and with sweet memories. Here in 2023, I set my first podium in MotoGP, a moment that I will never forget also because it happened in a very particular period of my career. In Motegi I felt better, both on the bike and physically, I went back home and used the week to rest and recover. I did some more medical checks, I’m not at 100 per cent, it won’t be easy to manage this season finale, but I’ll be on the track and I’ll continue to give my best to get back in the slipstream of the strongest riders.”

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The Ducatis will, as ever, be crucial too: Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) will want to put more distance between himself and Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio, and Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) will want to be back in the mix after dispatching his Long Lap penalty given for the collision with Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) at Motegi.

Mir is one who’ll want to do that as another round beckons, having had that home Honda weekend cut short, meanwhile team-mate Luca Marini keeps steadily racking up the kilometres and took some more points too. Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda LCR) likewise, despite some friendly fire from his team-mate Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) on Saturday. Zarco, meanwhile, was the winner of that incredible showdown at the Island last year, and despite the odd drama keeps showing that pace in the inter-Honda battle.

Wanting to leave that battle in the dust, the likes of Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) look to move forward and gain more points, and so too does Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing), who will have Lorenzo Savadori alongside him in the box again as Miguel Oliveira recovers from injury.

Davide Brivio – Trackhouse Team Principal

“Looking towards Phillip Island, I know last year they had to run the Grand Prix on Saturday as the weather was very bad and then they had to cancel Sunday. Let’s hope for better this year! Now we go to Australia to start the next triple header of this end of season schedule and unfortunately, we will not be able to have Miguel with us as he continues his recovery. But, we keep monitoring his progress day-by-day and see when he can make it back. Therefore, once again, we will have Lorenzo Savadori riding as Miguel’s replacement and go to Phillip Island looking to continue our improvements, helping Raul’s progress with the bike and looking to see where we can further optimize the package with Aprilia. We are looking forward to being at Phillip Island, it is always a special place to visit. The weather should be better than last year – some rain forecast at the beginning of the weekend but then, hopefully, some Australian sunshine – it’s a great track, lots of fans and we go there to perform at our best.”

Then there’s Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), who is looking for more on his final appearance at Phillip Island, having banked more points in Japan than his team-mate despite not having his pace.

10 points between two contenders but a mathematical possibility for four, Phillip Island will likely decide who’s gunning for glory at the very top this season. And as excited as we were to see a Sprint at the Island a year ago, imagine just how much more that’s true now.

MotoGP Championship Standings

Moto2

Sometimes gambles don’t pay off. But Ai Ogura and MT Helmets – MSI’s slick tyre roll of the dice in Japan led to a monumental 20 points landing in the Ogura’s hands, as the Japanese star took a giant leap towards becoming a Moto2 World Champion on home turf.

Ogura may have been disappointed to lose out on a home GP win to the brilliant first-time victor Manuel Gonzalez (Gresini Moto2), but the former’s lead over team-mate Sergio Garcia now sits at 60 with four races to play. That means if Ogura boasts anything above a 75-point lead on Sunday afternoon, the crown will be his.

While Ogura gambled on slick tyres, none of his chief title threats did the same. Garcia’s P14 keeps him second overall, as Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools SpeedUp) leapfrogged Aron Canet (Fantic Racing) back into P3 after a P9 finish. The latter, meanwhile, finished outside the points.

18 points split second to seventh in the Moto2 Championship, but Garcia, Lopez, Canet, Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing), Gonzalez and Fermin Aldeguer (Beta Tools SpeedUp) need to start carving huge chunks out of Ogura’s healthy lead before it’s too late. Can he wrap it up Down Under?

Senna Agius is aiming to impress on home soil and move back ahead of his team-mate in the championship standings.

Giorgio Barbier – Pirelli

“Phillip Island is a circuit that we know very well, in fact we have been racing there for many years with both the Superbike World Championship and the Australian Superbike National Championship. We last raced there with WordSBK in February this year, so already with the new asphalt, and we can only confirm that this is an extremely demanding track for tyre manufacturers and the resurfacing seems to have made it even more aggressive by increasing its levels of abrasiveness and severity. It must be said that in February the resurfacing works had just been completed and therefore the asphalt was still fresh and a little dirty, in recent months the situation may have improved a little but the levels of abrasiveness still remain high. Beyond the new asphalt, this circuit has always been very demanding also and above all because of its particular layout, with almost all left-hand corners resulting in high thermo-mechanical stress for tyres. What we don’t know is how our tyres will behave with Moto2 and Moto3 because this is the first time we have come to Australia with these classes, although we imagine that the class that will put the most stress on the tyres will be Moto2™. For this reason, in agreement with IRTA, the duration of the Moto2 free practice on Friday morning has been extended to 15 minutes, for a total of 55 minutes, to facilitate the work of teams and riders and allow them to perform long runs with both rear solutions. Given the uniqueness of this circuit, we have in fact decided to provide for the rear the development soft D0532, already used at Sachsenring and Aragón, and the SC3, which is the hard solution of the range for Moto2 while the Moto3 riders will have the medium SC2 as a softer solution and the C1096, a development hard already worn in some GPs, as an alternative“.

Moto2 Championship Standings

Moto3

With the 2024 crown already in the hands of David Alonso (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team), the pressure is off as the Moto3 class lands at Phillip Island with everyone searching for one thing – victory. The Colombian created history in Japan and has more records in sight, so can anyone halt the World Champion’s momentum?

A 10th win of the year sees Alonso sit one off Valentino Rossi’s record tally of 11 lightweight class wins. Four races remain, so Alonso has a chance to cement his name as the (statistically speaking anyway) greatest lightweight class rider ever between now and Valencia. But plenty will be aiming to end their seasons on a high with a win or two.

The title chase might be over, but three riders will be craving a runners-up spot before heading to Moto2 in 2025. Daniel Holgado (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) currently occupies P2 on 212 points, with Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) four adrift on 208. Ivan Ortola (MT Helmets – MSI) looked like the rider to beat in Motegi, but a crash from second place sees the Spaniard stay 191 points ahead of the Australian GP. That’s a fight to keep an eye on.

Elsewhere, home hero Joel Kelso (BOE Motorsports) will be a rider desperate to get on the podium once again at his home GP. The Australian claimed P3 in front of his supporters in 2023, so can Kelso stand on the box for the first time in 2024 this weekend? A crash from the lead group in Japan has ignited Kelso’s hunger and the Ginger Ninja will be on the warpath this weekend to cement his place further inside the championship top ten.

Countryman Jacob Roulstone has bagged 50-points thus far in his rookie season which places him 15th on the championship ladder. The youngster is looking to climb a few more rungs up that ladder before season end.

Moto3 Championship Standings