Moto GP: at what time and on which channel to follow the Australian GP and the incredible duel between Martin and Bagnaia

Le calme avant la tempête pour Francesco Bagnaia et Jorge Martin… MAXPPP – JOEL CARRETT

Just ten points separate Spaniard Jorge Martin from his pursuer, Italian Francesco Bagnaia. Total suspense for the world title with four rounds to go.

Ten small points: that's the gap separating Spaniard Jorge Martin from Italian Francesco Bagnaia before the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, the 17th round of 20 in the MotoGP world championship, run on the magnificent – but often treacherous – Phillip Island track.

On their Ducatis, a factory machine for Bagnaia and a bike from the satellite Pramac team for Martin, the two riders continue far ahead of the others in their duel for the championship won the last two seasons by the Italian.

The 3rd in the championship, the Italian Enea Bastianini, Bagnaia's teammate, is 79 points behind Martin while the seven-time Spanish world champion Marc Marquez (Ducati-Gresini) is just behind at 81 points. Their chances in the championship are mainly mathematical but their fight is intense because Bastianini already knows that he will have to leave his saddle to Marquez next year in the factory team of the Borgo Panigale manufacturer and is fighting for the honour.

Bagnaia's good dynamic

Bagnaia arrives at Phillip Island, near Melbourne, crowned with his clean sweep in Japan where he won the sprint race and the Grand Prix, pocketing 37 points to Martin's 26, 4th in the sprint and 2nd in the GP.“Phillip Island is a fast circuit where I have always been quite competitive but which is also a bit unusual, the grip of the surface and the changing weather conditions always playing a key role”, underlines the Turin native. “The weather changes here all the time and tyre management will be very important”, believes his rival.

Bagnaia and Martin are used to close finishes. Already last year, the two men were separated by only 18 points when they arrived in Australia, “Pecco” Bagnaia eventually won the championship with a 39-point lead over Martin.

It was the unexpected Frenchman Johann Zarco who won at Phillip Island a year ago, the only MotoGP victory to date for the double Moto2 world champion. Then at Ducati-Pramac, he has since joined the Honda-LCR team which is far from offering him such a high-performance machine and he is only in a distant 17th place in the championship.

“This track impresses me and I am happy to have been able to win there” last year, Zarco stressed on Thursday, hoping to continue the development of his bike and his recent progress to fight with the top ten.

MotoGP World Championship standings before the Australian Grand Prix, 17th round of the season (out of 20) of the World Championship MotoGP, scheduled from Friday to Sunday on the Phillip Island circuit (4.45 km)

Drivers:

1. Jorge Martín (ESP/Ducati-Pramac) 392 pts
2. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) 382
3. Enea Bastianini (ITA/Ducati) 313
4. Marc Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini) 311
5. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 183
6 . Pedro Acosta (ESP/GasGaS-Tech3) 181
7. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia) 163
8. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Ducati-Pramac) 136
9. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Ducati-VR46) 134
10. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA/Ducati-VR46) 134
11. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) 134
12. Alex Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini) 124
13. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha) 86
14. Miguel Oliveira (POR/Aprilia-Trackhouse) 71
15. Jack Miller (AUS /KTM) 66
16. Raul Fernandez (ESP/Aprilia-Trackhouse) 56
17. Johann Zarco (FRA/Honda-LCR) 36
18. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Honda-LCR) 28
19. Alex Rins (ESP/Yamaha) 20
20. Joan Mir (ESP/Honda) 20
21. Augusto Fernandez (ESP/GasGaS-Tech3) 20
22. Pol Espargaró (ESP/KTM) 12
23. Luca Marini (ITA/Honda) 7
24. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/KTM) 7
25. Stefan Bradl (GER/Team HRC) 2
26. Remy Gardner (AUS/Yamaha) 0
27. Lorenzo Savadori (ITA/Aprilia) 0< /p>

In good memory of Zarco

His compatriot Fabio Quartararo, 2021 world champion, is him 13th. If his Yamaha is a little faster than the Honda, only a miracle would allow him to win or even get on the podium. Bagnaia and Martin could well see their mano a mano disrupted by Marquez and Bastianini, still at the ;rsquo;looking for a brilliant move.

They each already have two Grand Prix victories this year and the first showed that ;he is now back at the top level even with a machine of last year's specifications, Gresini being only a customer team of Ducati. The young Spanish prodigy Pedro Acosta (GasGas-Tech3) is still chasing his first victory in the premier class where he is making his debut this season but often falls like during the last GP in Japan.

< p>To be continued on Sunday night into Monday from 5am on Canal + Sport 360.