Marquez Wins Muted Sprint Race
I
t was supposed to be a celebra-
tion. Instead, Phillip Island's
MotoGP farewell, October 23-25,
was a washout. The famous
circuit's stint on the Grand Prix
calendar ended on a bum note
as Sunday's racing was canceled
for the first time in a MotoGP
weekend since 2018.
The timing was unfortunate.
In its 31 years of hosting the
Australian Grand Prix, Phillip
Island had never been a sellout,
with fans traveling from across
Australia and the world to see
Grand Prix prototypes racing
there one last time.
Instead, they had to make do
with the 13-lap Sprint race on
Saturday. The following day's on-
track action was limited to two
MotoGP parade laps run behind
the safety car. As Marc Marquez
(Lenovo Ducati) said, "Phillip
Island didn't deserve this."
A weekend that started so
well and produced one of the
season's qualifying sessions
and Sprint races quickly turned
to farce, and it showed why the
series is heading for a more
predictable climate in Adelaide,
South Australia, from 2027.
It was a race that could define
the 2026 title fight. For seven and
a half laps, Marquez and Jorge
Martin (Aprilia Racing) produced
a fight that didn't look out of place
among some of the Phillip Island
classics from years gone by.
Marquez had served a warn-
ing of his intentions as early as
qualifying. In the wet, the reigning
World Champion showed all his
skill and daring, shrugging off an
early crash to obliterate the op-
position and take pole. Not just
that; he was 1.4 seconds quicker
than brother Alex (Gresini Ducati)
and half a second faster than the
rest in sector four alone.
Despite putting four bikes in
the top five in Friday's dry practice,
Aprilia struggled in the wet with
Martin fourth, Raul Fernandez
(Trackhouse Aprilia) sixth and
Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing)
a hugely disappointing ninth.
Contrary to forecasts, the track
dried ahead of the Sprint, and no
further showers came. Sensing
the importance of beating Marc
Marquez at one of his favorite
WIND
IN THE
P42
Marc Marquez's (93) and Jorge Martin's (89)
fight was one of the high points of the season in
the Sprint. It's a real pity, though, because it also
means Martin's season is now all but over.
