‘Can’t believe it’: MotoGP drought ends in Australia
Oliver Caffrey |
Spaniard Raul Fernandez has broken through for his first MotoGP win, triumphing at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
After finishing second in Saturday’s sprint, Fernandez put in a flawless ride at Phillip Island to finally end his MotoGP drought in his 76th premier class race by winning from fifth on the grid.
The 24-year-old took the chequered flag 1.4 seconds ahead of Italian Fabio Di Giannantonio and in-form pole-sitter Marco Bezzechi.
An accomplished Moto2 rider with eight wins in 2021, Fernandez has struggled since stepping up to MotoGP in 2022.
After one poor season with KTM, he has been with Aprilia for the past three years.
“I cannot believe it,” he said. “After a long time, we found something.
“The whole team always believed me. They never stopped supporting me. So it is the consequence of hard work.
“We had really good pace, I just tried to manage until the end. Especially the last five laps, it was a super long race for me.”
After qualifying third, Jack Miller’s hopes were high for a breakthrough win at his home GP.
But Miller’s race ended in agony on lap six when he lost control of his Yamaha.
Miller grabbed third in 2019, but hasn’t gone close to getting on the podium since – retiring in 2022, before finishing seventh and 11th in the subsequent two years.
“Just disappointed beyond belief,” Miler told the Ten Network.
“Settled in, pretty happy with the rhythm we had.
“We found a step (in pace) the last couple of weekends so try to finish the season off with some good results.”
Miller was one of four riders not to finish, including dual world champion Francesco Bagnaia.
Bezzechi was always going to be up against it due to having to serve a double long-lap penalty.
He was penalised for his role in the recent carnage in Indonesia that led to newly crowned world champion Marc Marquez suffering serious injuries.
But showing his skill and the pace of his bike, Bezzechi managed to pinch a podium when he overtook Alex Marquez.
Marc Marquez was unable to ride this weekend as he recovers from the crash at Mandalika a fortnight ago.
The MotoGP circuit will move to Malaysia next weekend, the third last event of the season.
AAP
