BIG SUNDAY
Weather often comes into play at the Australian round of MotoGP and this year’s Pramac Generac Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix was no exception. While it may have robbed the fans of some action on the Saturday of the race weekend, it presented a packed MotoGP programme on race day Sunday.
As well as adding MotoGP qualifying, that ‘Super Sunday’ programme included the possibility of new champions being crowned in Moto2 and Moto3, while Marc Marquez, the recently crowned champion in MotoGP, had the opportunity to further stamp his authority on what’s been a record-breaking season.
Despite the weather, fans still turned out in force for the 2019 Australian round, with an estimated total three-day attendance of 82,850 being slightly up on last year, which in turn was the best total since 2012.
PRE-ISLAND STATE OF PLAY
As Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) had already wrapped up this year’s MotoGP championship two rounds earlier at Buriram, the Australian round would not be pivotal, but taking the ‘glass half full’ approach meant that Marquez was now off the leash and could go all out in pursuit of race wins.
There were a long list of riders aiming to stop him, though, led by last year’s Phillip Island race winner, Monster Energy Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) couldn’t be discounted, either; the latter following his debut MotoGP victory at CotA earlier this year, followed by an epic win over Marquez at Silverstone in August.
Many eyes were also on MotoGP rookie, Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT), who had scored four pole positions and six podiums coming to the Australian round, including a close second to Marquez the week before at Motegi. Could the fast young Frenchman break through for his first MotoGP race win here?
While a Quartararo win would have ignited the tail end of the season, most of the Aussie crowd were hoping for a Jack Miller victory. Enjoying his best season in MotoGP to date, Miller had secured three podiums this year coming into
