Yamaha’s winless streak ended with Maverick Vinales taking the top spot in MotoGP’s Auatralian Grand Prix at Phillip Island ahead of Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone and Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.
It wasn’t a great start from pole-sitter Honda’s Marc Marquez as he dropped places with Pramac Racing Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci shot into the lead from eighth on the grid. However, he ran wide which put his teammate Jack Miller in the lead.
Despite the slower run, Marquez was already up to second and by the end of the lap he took the lead of the race from Miller with Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone in third. But it wasn’t long for Ducati’s Dovizioso to come through.
The Italian started ninth and shot into the lead by Lap 3 from Marquez with Miller in third, Tech 3 Yamaha’s Johann Zarco fourth and Iannone dropping to fifth. A shocking start from Vinales saw him at the back of the Top 10 battling with Suzuki’s Alex Rins.
In the fight was also Bautista abode the Ducati, who had a slower start as well but started to show his pace as the race went on. As Dovizioso led the way, Marquez got a big whack on his back from Zarco.
The two came together in the lead up to Turn 1 where Zarco hit the back of Marquez when the Spaniard unaware of the Frenchman moved slightly to the left, in the way of Zarco which left him nowhere to go.
This ended both their races as out of nowhere Vinales got into second behind Dovizioso with Iannone in third and Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi in fourth. Miller was fifth then ahead of Rins and Bautista in the lead group.
In a strange situation, it was Vinales in the lead after he passed Dovizioso with Rossi in second as the Ducati rider dropped to third with Iannone on his tail with Bautistia, Rins and Miller behind.
Once in the lead, Vinales checked out his competition soon as the fight for second saw multiple riders in the frame as it changed hands between four riders, Rossi, Dovizioso, Iannone and Baustista.
In the end, Vinales just had enough to win the grand prix – his first win since last year’s French Gran Prix with Yamaha ending its 25 race losing streak finally to win for the first time in 2018 and since the Dutch Grand Prix in 28 races.
Iannone fended off the fight from Dovizioso in the end to take second. The Italian was catching up Vinales towards the end but then did not have enough pace to challenge him and had to settle for second – his best result for Suzuki.
It was Ducati 3-4 with Dovizioso finishing third ahead of Bautista on a circuit where the Italian manufacturer doesn’t do well. It was also a fine run for Bautista on his debut for the factory Ducati team to score his best result of 2018.
A last lap pass saw Rins take fifth with Rossi finishing sixth. Miller was seventh as the best independent rider in his home grand prix as Marc VDS Honda’s Franco Morbidelli in eighth registered his career’s best result.
It was a good day for Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro as he fought his way up to ninth keeping KTM’s Bradley Smith behind with the Austrian manufacturer losing out in the end with Pol Espargaro’s crash after running well in the Top 10.
Angel Nieto Ducati’s Karel Abraham also did well in 11th to score his best result of 2018 with Petrucci recovering from his early off to 12th from Aprilia’s Scott Redding, LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami and Avintia Racing Ducati’s Xavier Simeon.
By finishing in 15th, Simeon scored his first-ever point in MotoGP. Marc VDS Honda’s Thomas Luthi finished 16th with Avintia Racing Ducati’s Jordi Torres and Angel Nieto Ducati’s Mike Jones rounding the 18 finishers.
It wasn’t a great day for both Honda and Tech 3 Yamaha as after the crash of Marqeuz and Zarco, both their teammates Dani Pedrosa and Hafizh Syarhin also crashed out – the latter was running well in eighth before his fall.