Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has taken an incredible victory at the Australian GP after producing an extraordinary last lap in Phillip Island. Teammate, Dani Pedrosa, took fifth after a closely fought race.

The race began at a rapid pace, with Lorenzo, Iannone, Marc, Dani, Rossi and Crutchlow leading the way. Lorenzo pushed at the front trying to open a gap as the other riders jostled for position behind him. By lap seven, Marc had slotted in behind Lorenzo as the other riders continued to battle, constantly swapping position. By lap sixteen, Dani had established himself in 5th – fending off Crutchlow – as a small gap opened up to him and the leading four riders.

Despite constantly passing one another, Marc, Rossi and Iannone caught up with Lorenzo and on lap eighteen Marc took the lead briefly, but it only lasted three laps. Marc, Rossi and Iannone continued to fight and Marc dropped down to 4th with just two laps to go. However, he never gave up hope – passing Rossi on the penultimate lap into 3rd – and on the final lap making up two places whilst recording the fastest lap of the race and taking the victory by just 0.249 seconds over Lorenzo.

The top four riders crossed the line with barely a second separating them with Dani bringing home 5th place. Marc’s win here is his 50th in his career and his first in the MotoGP class at Phillip Island – only victory at Motegi eludes him – from circuits on the current calendar. Honda remain the most successful manufacturer at Phillip Island in the MotoGP era with six victories.

Marc Marquez - 1st Championship Standing: 3rd - 222 points

"It was a really fun race - certainly one to remember - and it had different phases to it. At the beginning there was a lot of overtaking, then when I passed Jorge it seemed that I was breaking away. However, I overheated the front tyre and had to slow my pace. At the end I overtook Iannone and Valentino and I had a great last lap; I don't know where I pulled that time out from, but it was what made the difference for us! I want to thank all the team, Honda and all the fans. After a difficult season it’s always nice to finish the year with some victories!"

Dani Pedrosa - 5th Championship Standing: 5th - 165 points

"It was a difficult race - they are always tough here - but I'm pretty satisfied with our performance because we had a good pace, even though the final position was not very good because we were so caught up with Crutchlow. I had problems on the last corner; I could not accelerate hard because the bike was moving about, I lost all my acceleration down the straight and other riders were able to overtake me. At the end I was able to ride alone and I set very similar times to those at the front, and that's positive. Now we will go to Malaysia and try to do better."


1 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 25 Repsol Honda Team Honda 40'33.849
2 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 20 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +0.249
3 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA 16 Ducati Team Ducati +0.930
4 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA 13 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +1.058
5 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA 11 Repsol Honda Team Honda +5.062
6 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA 10 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki +6.800
7 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR 9 LCR Honda Honda +9.375
8 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA 8 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +18.401
9 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 7 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki +20.039
10 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR 6 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +20.657
11 REDDING Scott 45 GBR 5 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda +21.846
12 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA 4 Pramac Racing Ducati +22.840
13 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 3 Ducati Team Ducati +29.168
14 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA 2 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia +37.244
15 MILLER Jack 43 AUS 1 LCR Honda Honda +40.192
16 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA 0 Avintia Racing Ducati +48.263
17 HERNANDEZ Yonny 68 COL 0 Pramac Racing Ducati +48.572
18 BAZ Loris 76 FRA 0 Athina Forward Racing Forward Yamaha +48.677
19 LAVERTY Eugene 50 IRE 0 Aspar MotoGP Team Honda +50.201
20 DI MEGLIO Mike 63 FRA 0 Avintia Racing Ducati +50.262
21 BRADL Stefan 6 GER 0 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia +50.277
22 ELIAS Toni 24 SPA 0 AB Motoracing Honda +1'20.942
23 WEST Anthony 13 AUS 0 AB Motoracing Honda +1'23.454
24 HAYDEN Nicky 69 USA 0 Aspar MotoGP Team Honda DNF
25 CUDLIN Damian 55 AUS 0 E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART DNF