Marquez beats Vinales who falls on last lap in Phillip Island thriller

Full Australian MotoGP race results

Marc Marquez has clinched victory ahead of Maverick Vinales who crashed on the final lap while fighting against the MotoGP world champion at Australian Grand Prix.

After darting into the lead on Lap 10, pole-sitter Vinales was stalked by Marquez until the final lap with the Repsol Honda rider measuring his rival’s pace around the iconic Australian circuit.

Marquez made his move at the start of the last lap using his RC213V’s superior power to charge into the lead on the main straight into Turn 1. The newly crowned MotoGP world champion then produced a defensive lap to keep Vinales at bay, with the Monster Yamaha rider looking the sweep around Lukey Heights and attack Marquez down into Turn 10 but his soft rear tyre slipped out from underneath him to send the Yamaha rider down.

With Marquez storming to his 55th career premier class victory, to surpass Mick Doohan on the all-time list of winners, Cal Crutchlow benefitted to take second place for LCR Honda to mark his first rostrum since Sachsenring.

Jack Miller made the most of the misfortune for Vinales by taking the final podium place at his home round for Pramac Ducati to spark jubilant scenes for the Australian – the first home rider to finish on the premier class podium since Casey Stoner back in 2012.

Earlier in the race it was a disastrous opening two corners for Danilo Petrucci and Fabio Quartararo who both tumbled out of contention early on. In the barging for position coming around Turn 2, Petrucci was edged wide by Marquez which sent the Ducati rider into a fierce high-side, with Petrucci collecting the MotoGP rookie of the year who was drifting wide himself.

In a frantic series of opening laps the lead was traded between Crutchlow, Andrea Iannone and Valentino Rossi as the front-running pack shuffled its order.

Vinales found his rhythm on Lap 8 by passing Iannone for third place which started his charge into the lead by overtaking both Marquez and Crutchlow on consecutive laps. Having known Vinales held the best practice pace, Marquez duly followed the Monster Yamaha rider past Crutchlow, bumping the LCR Honda rider wide, with the front two stretching clear over the middle third of the race.

As Marquez stalked Vinales in the closing laps, the Repsol Honda rider repeated his last-lap attack which resulted in victory against Quartararo in Misano and Buriram.

To the Yamaha rider’s credit he risked his race to repeat his 2018 victory at Phillip Island by fighting Marquez but it failed to pay off as he tumbled out of contention at Turn 10.

Behind the front two, Miller led home Pramac Ducat team-mate Francesco Bagnaia who claimed his best result of his rookie season in fourth place in front of fellow rookie Joan Mir impressing late on for fifth place for Suzuki.

Iannone grabbed Aprilia’s best result at Phillip Island in sixth place in front of former Ducati team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

Despite a stellar opening lap to his 400th career start, Rossi faded late on to eighth place for Monster Yamaha but ahead of Suzuki’s Alex Rins and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Franco Morbidelli lost contact with the front group early meaning he could only finish in 11th place for Petronas Yamaha but he kept in front of Red Bull KTM’s Pol Espargaro.

Johann Zarco capped his LCR Honda debut in 13th place as stand in for the injured Takaaki Nakagami who has been ruled out of the rest of the season by shoulder surgery.

With Avintia Ducati’s Karel Abraham and Hafizh Syahrin (Tech3 KTM) rounding out the points places, it was another nightmare race for Jorge Lorenzo for Repsol Honda in 16th place and last of the classified finishers – as Mika Kallio and Tito Rabat also failed to see the chequered flag.

Miguel Oliveira did not start the Australian MotoGP for Tech3 KTM due to a hand injury sustained in his heavy FP4 fall at Turn 1.