Marco Bezzecchi converted second place on the grid into victory in an Aprilia-dominated Australian Grand Prix MotoGP sprint race at Phillip Island.
Bezzecchi, who struck a bird during the warm-up lap and had part of the carcass lodged in his fairing for the whole race, broke away from the pack with fellow Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez before overtaking Fernandez to win the race.
Poleman Fabio Quartararo only kept the lead off the line for a handful of metres before several bikes eased past his wheeling Yamaha - with Alex Marquez into the lead from sixth on the grid, but Fernandez picking him off through Southern Loop.
Bezzecchi then followed Fernandez through as Marquez went slightly wide entering Turn 4, and while the Gresini rider held third for a bit it soon became clear he had no answer to the Aprilias.
With their positions consolidated, Bezzecchi closed in on Fernandez but had to check up at Turn 10 on the sixth lap to avoid hitting his stablemate, so dropped a full second back.
Yet that gap was made back up in almost no time, and on lap 10 of 13 Bezzecchi eased past Fernandez through the Southern Loop - before pulling away to win by three seconds.
The fight for the only non-Aprilia podium spot, third place, came down to the final lap and final corner.
With Marquez struggling, KTM rider Pedro Acosta picked off both Marquez and Jack Miller on the main straight just as Miller was working his way past Marquez.
Fabio Di Giannantonio came through from an early eighth to join the fight, but in the end could only watch from very close behind as Miller tried unsuccessfully to work his way back past Acosta on the final lap.
Marquez took sixth, the best of the 2024-spec Ducatis right behind Di Giannantonio's 2024 bike. Their finishes meant Ducati missed out on having any representatives on the sprint podium for the first time in the history of the format, which debuted in 2023.
Having gone backwards off the line, Quartararo rode a quiet race to seventh, unable to match Miller's podium-challenging burst of pace.
Honda's Luca Marini worked his way past KTM tester Pol Espargaro for eighth, but Espargaro did hang on for ninth and the final sprint point.
There were crashes for Brad Binder and Fermin Aldeguer during the race, Binder down from ninth early after having just cleared Aldeguer, and Aldeguer then crashing after a race spent struggling to stay in the points.
In Marc Marquez's injury absence, the Ducati works team was a total non-factor. Pecco Bagnaia stayed on but went backwards in a shocking fashion in the early laps, tumbling from 12th to second-to-last - and though he at least stayed ahead of Marquez's replacement, test rider Michele Pirro, he made no progress at all back up the field.
Results
1 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia)
2 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +3.149s
3 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +5.310s
4 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +5.376s
5 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +5.416s
6 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) +6.109s
7 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +8.706s
8 Luca Marini (Honda) +8.938s
9 Pol Espargaro (Tech3 KTM) +9.252s
10 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +9.752s
11 Joan Mir (Honda) +10.231s
12 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) +12.104s
13 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +12.132s
14 Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha) +17.494s
15 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +18.967s
16 Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) +25.185s
17 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +27.784s (8s penalty)
18 Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda) +28.945s
19 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +32.408s
20 Michele Pirro (Ducati) +35.523s
DNF Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati)
DNF Brad Binder (KTM)
