Even the Australian wildlife could not keep Spain’s Marc Marquez from claiming his fourth MotoGP victory Down Under in an all-time classic at Phillip Island.
Marquez slipped as far back as 13th from second on the grid after a mosquito infiltrated his visor and botched his start.
But the six-time world MotoGP champion quickly recovered and finally overtook countryman Jorge Martin with four laps to go to claim his third race win of the season on Sunday.
Martin fought back in a tense duel to the finish line, but the experienced Marquez held him off to close the gap on the 26-year-old and Italian Francesco Bagnaia at the top of the world championship standings.
Waiting for the starting lights to turn green, Marquez said he noticed a large mosquito in his visor and removed the tear-off film to clear his vision.
“This one was a big one and I said I will arrive on the first corner and I will not see anything so I need to remove it,” he told broadcaster Fox Sports after the race.
“Yeah, it was unlucky.”
Replays showed the plastic strip floating down and landing under his rear tyre, causing a monster wheelspin as he accelerated off the line.
But in one of the best rides of Marquez’s accomplished career, he quickly hauled down the pack, setting a Phillip Island MotoGP lap record of 1.27.900 along the way.
Arriving in Australia with a 10-point lead at the top of the standings, Martin (424 points) held off Bagnaia in third to widen his gap over the reigning champion to 20 points, building on the six-point boost from winning Saturday’s sprint race.
Marquez’s win keeps his title hopes alive, if only mathematically. He trails Martin by 79 points with three race weekends left.
Italian trio Fabio Di Giannantonio, Enea Bastianini and Franco Morbidelli rounded out an all-Ducati top six.
Miller suffered his worst qualifying result at the Victorian racetrack after hitting a rabbit.
A seagull strike then hampered his bike before he eventually crashed out in the sprint.
It wasn’t all misfortune for local riders, with Australian Senna Agius earlier coming from 13th on the grid to claim a third-placed finish in the Moto2.
“It’s not been the easiest of seasons and to get my first podium today, I’m actually a bit emotional,” he said.
“I just can’t believe it, honestly.”
Maverick Vinales made a miraculous recovery to finish eighth after he was airlifted to hospital following a horror high-speed crash with Marco Bezzechi in Saturday’s sprint.
Bezzechi was handed a long lap penalty by stewards for running into the back of Vinales then crashed out of Sunday’s race on lap five, this time without taking any rivals out with him.
Spaniard Pedro Acosta did not start after injuring his shoulder in a scary highside earlier in the weekend.
