Phillip Island MotoGP/2/3 Race Reports/Results/Points

MotoGP 2022 – Round 18 – Phillip Island
Reports/Results

Those riders that were aiming to use the morning warm-up to further evaluate their choice between the Hard and Medium rears ahead of the 27-lap race had that idea doused by an unexpected shower that started falling just as the MotoGP warm-up / wet-up session began at 0940 on Sunday morning.

Johann Zarco topped that damp session with a 1m36.804 early on when the track was still mainly dry, some nine-seconds slower than the 1m27.767 recorded by Jorge Martin on his way to pole position on Saturday afternoon. Fabio Quartararo got away with a run off over the grass in the wettest part of the warm-up session, but Marc Marquez did not get away quite so lightly with a tumble late in the session also.

Martin’s pole lap on Saturday had not only been good enough for pole, but it was also a new all-time Phillip Island lap record.

Lining up alongside Martin on the front row was Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia.

Aleix Espargaro headed row two ahead of Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco.  On Friday Zarco had topped both sessions and on the Hard option rear he has been consistently quick all weekend.

Luca Marini headed row three ahead of Jack Miller and Marco Bezzecchi. Only four-tenths of a second had covered that top nine in qualifying so they all had the speed to win, but who would get the strategy and set-up right to go quickest over the full 120 kilometre race distance…

Things had not gone all Jack Miller’s way throughout the practice and qualifying sessions but today is the day he has to pull it all together… And he has tens of thousands of Aussies lining the track cheering him on… In fact it was the biggest crowd for an Australian GP at Phillip for ten years. The estimated three-day attendance of over 91,000 the best since Casey Stoner’s final race at Phillip Island in 2012.

Phillip Island MotoGP Race Report

Jorge Martin led the field through Southern Loop for the first time with Marc Marquez in close company.  Behind the Repsol Honda was Aleix Espargaro and Fabio Quartararo with Pecco Bagnaia in fifth.

Bagnaia was immediately aggressive with his passes on both Quartararo and then Espargaro to get up to third place.  Jack Miller was eighth at this early juncture but then made his way up to fifth place over the first couple of laps.

A terrible start for Johann Zarco who was way down in 18th place at the end of lap one.

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Jorge Martin continued to hold sway up front while Marc Marquez was holding station right behind him. Behind that due things were a little more busy… Miller passing Aleix Espargaro up to fourth and then started to challenge his Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia for third.

Fabio Quartararo then made a big mistake under brakes for turn four while tussling with Luca Marini over sixth position, the Frenchman running up the slip road before rejoining the race all the way back in 20th position.

Jack Mliller went under Pecco Bagnaia at turn ten later on that lap but Bagnaia was having none of it and refused to yield the position and sweeping back across Miller’s nose as they tipped into turn 11. Jack managed to get it done at the same point though next time around to move up to fourth place but Pecco took the place back a few corners later.

Coming from behind though was Alex Rins on the Suzuki. He was picking off riders left, right and centre as he marched his way forwards and by lap five had dispensed with Aleix Espargaro and was all over the back of Miller. Rins then put it under Miller on the entrance to Southern Loop. Aleix Espargaro then had the two VR46 Ducati machines of Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi to deal with, and Alex Marquez was also starting to loom large…

They actually held station for a few laps then, but nothing separated the top ten really.

With 19 laps to run moves started to be made once again. Aleix Espargaro went through on Miller, and then heading towards turn four Alex Marquez made a mistake trying to overtake Luca Marini, the pair collided, and Alex Marquez then ricocheted/barreled into Jack Miller. The impact sent Jack Miller and his bike flying, along with his remote championship hopes out of the window…

Officials subsequently penalised Alex Marquez with a Long Lap penalty to be served during the MotoGP race next weekend at the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia.

Up front Jorge Martin was continuing to lead while Marc Marquez shadowed. Only metres behind them though Alex Rins and Pecco Bagnaia were tussling over third place, while fifth placed Aleix Espargaro and sixth placed Marco Bezzecchi were right on their tails also.

Fabio Quartararo had been putting in some fast lap times, and at some points had been fastest on track but had only progressed forward to 15th position. That was until lap ten when the Frenchman ended up on the deck at turn two after losing the front.

Alex Rins moved through to second place with 16 laps to run and immediately started nipping at the heels of Jorge Martin. But there was still almost nothing separating the top eight riders, it looked more like a Moto3 race at times with a leading pack still this large more than ten laps into the race. Then not far behind that group of eight was another conga line of riders led by Johann Zarco, who had just set a new fastest lap of the race…

Rins and Martin started swapping places at the front of the field but Martin then got dusted up at turn four with both Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez swooping past Martin to push him back to fourth. Bezzecchi then pushed Martin further back to fifth.

At half race distance Bagnaia hit the front, blasting past Rins and Marquez into turn one.  Marquez then under Rins at turn four for second place. The leading group had now grown even further due to these tussles, with the top 15 riders often in the one picture on the video screens.

12 laps to go Bagnaia leading Marquez and Rins. Bezzecchi chasing hard from fourth and just ahead of Martin, Aleix Espargaro, Brad Binder, Luca Marini, Johann Zarco and Enea Bastianini rounded out the top ten. Remy Gardner was having a good race and in 13th place at this juncture.

Rins took second place back from Marquez with a little over ten laps to run but it was still Bagnaia out front. Jorge Martin then put his hat back in the ring with a brave move past Marc Marquez at Hayshed to move back up to P3.  Marquez returned the favour entering turn ten a lap later, with Martin then pushed further back by Bezzecchi has he also slotted past Martin.  Then down into Southern Loop Bezzecchi stood Marc Marquez up but the Repsol Honda man got the upper hand again before the exit to move back up to third place. While up front Alex Rins then took the lead back from Bagnaia through turn three. It was all going on and getting hard to keep up…

With seven laps to go it was closer than ever up front.. Bagnaia, Bezzecchi, Marquez, Rins, Martin and Marini the top six while Aleix Espargaro was desperately trying to hang on to that leading group while running seventh.

Next time around at Southern Loop Alex Rins’ victim was Marc Marquez, taking third place. Jorge Martin then split the pair of them at turn four. At the front of the pack was Bagnaia and Bezzecchi, five laps to run…

The top seven remained quite close over the next couple of laps, with two laps to run it was Bagnaia, Rins, Marquez, Bezzecchi, Marini, Martin and Bastianini still a tightly packed group and any of them could win the race. They remained in that order at the last lap board but it was not over yet…

Rins under Bagnaia at turn two for the lead, Marquez then pushes Bagnaia back to third through the same turn.. They stay in that order through turn four, Bagnaia has a sniff into Siberia but thinks better of it.. Still Rins through Hayshed, Marquez close across Lukey Heights, but Rins too good into turn ten, Marquez right on the tail of the Suzuki through 11, Rins gets great drive through and off turn 12 though to hold on and does it, an emotional win for Alex Rins and Team Suzuki.

Marc Marquez absolutely thrilled with second place and the whole experience of the race.

Bagnaia pumped to have finished on the podium while his primary rival for the championship had scored no points.

An absolutely sensational race and the second closest top ten in the premier class history.

Another interesting anecdote is that after the top speed record for Phillip Island was broken a few times over the course of the weekend, the highest top speed outright for the event was actually achieved during the race with Enea Bastianini going through the traps at 356.4 km/h.

If not for a problem at the start of the race that had him down in 19th place, Johann Zarco would have certainly been in the hunt for a win. Zarco’s 1m29.622 on lap 13 was faster than anyone else lapped during the race and he had been quickest on the hard option tyres almost all weekend. The poor start though meant the best he could do was eighth. Neither Bagnaia or Marquez managed a single 1m29 all race, yet finished on the podium…

Pecco Bagnaia now heads to Malaysia with a 14-point lead over Fabio Quartararo. Aleix Espargaro is 27-points behind Bagnaia. After Malaysia MotoGP then heads back to Europe for the championship finale at Valencia on November 6.  There is still 50-points on the table…

2022 Phillip Island MotoGP Race Results

MotoGP Championship Points Standings

Phillip Island Moto2 Race Report

Alonso Lopez dominated the Moto2 race at the Animoca Brands Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix despite having to serve a Long Lap penalty.

The Beta Tools Speed Up rider took the lead four corners into the 25-lap encounter at Phillip Island and, despite the detour he was forced to take at Turn 4 – now Miller Corner – on Lap 4, he remained in front thereafter to claim victory by an official margin of 3.556 seconds.

Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) finished second and Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) third, while Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) took over the Championship lead by a 3.5-point margin even though he got home only 11th. The Japanese rider looked like incurring a big blow to his title hopes as he struggled in midfield, but then Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) crashed out of third position with less than 10 laps to go and the tables turned completely.

2022 Phillip Island Moto2 Race Results

Moto2 Championship Points Standings

Phillip Island Moto3 Race Report

Sergio Garcia got the run off the line to lead the Moto3 horde through Southern Loop for the first time ahead of Moreira and Ortola.  Kelso was off the line well but got a little bit dusted up through the first turns before settling in behind Guevera after the championship leader had a big moment over Lukey Heights.

Kelso was tagged on to the back of a leading group of eight that consisted of Sasaki, Garcia, Moreira, Guevera, Kelso, Oncu, Ortola and Masia.

Holgado and Furusato both went down early and out of the race.

With 18 laps to run the group of eight had slimmed to six but Kelso was still in that mix up front. That pack of six then started to grow.. Kelso was pushed wide by Moreira at turn four and then Nepa added further insult by making the Aussie youngster stand it up which forced him off line. Kelso recovered well though and was soon back up to sixth place.

Joel Kelso kept getting roughed up by other riders but gave as good as he got and with 13 laps to run was in fifth place, but the leading quartet had managed to sneak away from him a little and he now found himself in a group of four fighting over fifth. Meanwhile up front it was Garcia, Guevera, Sasaki and Oncu tussling over the lead.

Young Brit Scott Ogden had a big off through turn three which brought out yellow flags through that sector.

The top four then really started to break away. Sasaki, Guevera, Garcia and Oncu all running nose-to-tail through some sections, and side-by-side through others… Positions changing all the time and they had five-seonds over the group battling for fifth with seven laps to run.

Kelso continued to battle for position in that second group that were tussling hard over fifth please. His fellow combatants Moreira, Nepa and the hugely experienced McPhee.

Izan Guevera took the lead into Southern Loop on the final lap, he has a championship on the line here today but he is not letting that hold him back in his quest for a win. Guevera pulled the pin through the back section of the circuit and pulled clear enough that nobody could challenge him across Lukey nor into MG… An absolutely brilliant win and a deserving 2022 Moto3 World Champion, Izan Guevera take a bow.

There was a photo finish for seventh place that unfortunately did not go the way for Joel Kelso, Diogo Moreira getting the nod for that seventh place finish, Kelso eighth.

2022 Phillip Island Moto3 Race Results

Moto3 Championship Points Standings

2022 MotoGP Calendar