Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi showed overwhelming strength during the MotoGP Australian Grand Prix sprint despite hitting a seagull at the start, ending Ducati’s sprint podium streak.
Marco Bezzecchi, who showed great speed in Friday’s practice, will be given two long lap penalties to qualify for the Grand Prix after colliding with Marc Marquez in Indonesia.
Bezzecchi, who started from second on the grid, used an overwhelming sprint to win by 3.149 seconds over Aprilia stablemate Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse).
However, Bezzecchi’s race was not an easy one, as he collided with a seagull on the warm-up lap before the start, which ended up getting stuck in the front of his RS-GP.
Fernández led for most of the sprint, but was overhauled by Bezzecchi on lap 10 of 13.
KTM’s Pedro Acosta took the podium, ending Ducati’s streak of consecutive podiums in sprints since the beginning of this era.
The brand’s top representative Fabio Di Giannantonio finished fifth on his VR46, while Ducati factory rider Pecco Bagnaia was second to last, 32.408 seconds behind the lead.
Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez took the lead from sixth on the grid at the start of the sprint, but was quickly overtaken by Fernandes on the trackhouse.
Bezzecchi ran in third place after the opening corner, but pole sitter Fabio Quartararo lost ground due to a poor start on his factory Yamaha.
Marquez’s mistake in Turn 4 left Bezzecchi with his Aprilia trailing Fernandez 1-2.
The pair quickly pulled away from the pack, with Fernandes taking over a second lead on lap six when Bezzecchi went wide at Turn 10.
However, the Aprilia factory rider quickly rallied to get back on track with Fernandes and was able to take the lead at Turn 2 on lap 10.
Bezzecchi had a 3.149 second lead over Fernandez, taking his third sprint victory in the last four races.
KTM’s Acosta took the final podium spot after a tough battle with Marquez, Pramac Yamaha’s Jack Miller and Di Giannantonio.
Acosta held off Miller’s third place by 0.066 seconds by the time he reached the line, with Di Giannantonio a further 0.040 seconds behind.
Marquez was sixth behind Gresini, while Quartararo fell behind Honda’s Luca Marini and KTM test rider Pol Espargaro to seventh.
Pecco Bagnaia’s struggles at Phillip Island continue as the Ducati factory rider drops to 19th place, with interim teammate Michele Pirro alone.