2015 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix

The 2015 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix was the sixteenth round of the 2015 MotoGP season. It was held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Phillip Island on Sunday 18 October 2015.

Australia  2015 Australian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 16 of 18 races in the
2015 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date18 October 2015
Official namePramac Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix[1][2][3]
LocationPhillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Course
  • Permanent racing facility
  • 4.448 km (2.764 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position
Rider Spain Marc Márquez Honda
Time 1:28.364
Fastest lap
Rider Spain Marc Márquez Honda
Time 1:29.280 on lap 27
Podium
First Spain Marc Márquez Honda
Second Spain Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha
Third Italy Andrea Iannone Ducati
Moto2
Pole position
Rider Spain Álex Rins Kalex
Time 1:32.523
Fastest lap
Rider Spain Álex Rins Kalex
Time 1:32.880 on lap 10
Podium
First Spain Álex Rins Kalex
Second United Kingdom Sam Lowes Speed Up
Third Italy Lorenzo Baldassarri Kalex
Moto3
Pole position
Rider United Kingdom Danny Kent[N 1] Honda
Time 1:36.180
Fastest lap
Rider Italy Francesco Bagnaia Mahindra
Time 1:36.532 on lap 3
Podium
First Portugal Miguel Oliveira KTM
Second Spain Efrén Vázquez Honda
Third South Africa Brad Binder KTM

In his 130th start, Marc Márquez achieved his 50th Grand Prix win – becoming the ninth rider to reach that mark, and the youngest to do so,[4] at 22 years, 243 days – with a final-lap pass on Jorge Lorenzo.[5] The final podium position was taken by Andrea Iannone, despite striking a seagull during the early laps. With Valentino Rossi finishing in fourth place, Lorenzo cut the championship lead to eleven points with two races remaining. With Lorenzo's result, Yamaha clinched their first title for constructors championship; their first title since 2010. The race is considered to be one of the best in MotoGP history, many praising the battle between the top four riders as thrilling and unpredictable.[6]

In the lower classes, Álex Rins took his second Moto2 victory of the season, finishing clear of Sam Lowes and Lorenzo Baldassarri; Baldassarri's result was his first podium finish in Grand Prix racing. In Moto3, Miguel Oliveira's fourth victory of 2015 maintained his mathematical chance of claiming the world championship title.[7] Efrén Vázquez finished in second place ahead of Oliveira's teammate Brad Binder. Championship leader Danny Kent crashed out of the race, which meant that Oliveira reduced the championship lead to 40.

Report

Background

The Pramac Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix was announced as the 16th race of the 2015 MotoGP championship by the global motorsporting body FIM in September 2014, with the race being conducted a week after the Japanese Grand Prix and a week before the race in Sepang, Malaysia.[8] It was the 26th season that Grand Prix motorcycle racing has conducted a race in Australia and the 20th race conducted at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria. After the race in Japan from the previous week, Valentino Rossi was leading the championship 18 points ahead of his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez was 86 points behind Rossi and was mathematically out of championship contention going into Australia, with 75 points on offer in the final three races of the season.[9] Dani Pedrosa was the previous race winner in Japan, with Rossi finishing in second and Lorenzo in third.[9] In the teams championship, Movistar Yamaha conserved its lead in Japan to 192 points over Repsol Honda, making it also mathematically impossible for the team to be beaten, while the Ducati Factory Team sat in third place only 34 points away from Repsol Honda and still had an opportunity to take second place by the end of the season.[9] The constructors championship showed Yamaha had a 57 point lead over Honda, although there was still a possibility for Honda to win the title, it was highly unlikely.[9]

Due to injuries sustained at the Catalan Grand Prix earlier in the season, Karel Abraham announced that he would step aside from the rest of the season beginning with the Japanese Grand Prix, with Anthony West taking his place in Australia, Malaysia and Valencia.[10] Alex de Angelis also announced that he would not compete the rest of the season after sustaining an injury during a free practice session in Japan, with Damian Cudlin replacing him for the Australian and Malaysian races.[11]

Practice and Qualifying

Despite warm and sunny conditions on Thursday, the weather on Friday turned to cold and rainy by Friday with an average temperature of 14°C throughout the day.[12]

In the first practice session, after being cut short due to rain hitting the circuit, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa covered the top four spots, with Jack Miller completing the top five.[13] Most of the session took place in overcast conditions, with belief that the weather would improve throughout the weekend.[13]

The third practice session began early Saturday morning, a cross wind had developed across pit straight, which compromised riding times. Iannone took the lead within the first 10 minutes of the session, while Rossi became the first to improve on his Friday practice times.[14] With 10 minutes to go, Marquez was the only rider able to pass the time set by Iannone with the track temperature increasing to 22°C and the sun beginning to make an impact, producing more tyre grip than yesterdays practices as riders changed to slick tyres.[14] Despite nearly riding into the back of Pol Espargaró in turn four, Marquez set the quickest time of the weekend a lap later, with Cal Crutchlow finishing in second place and Lorenzo in third, Scott Redding set his fastest lap of the weekend finishing in fourth while Maverick Viñales completed the top five.[14]

Marquez continued his pace, again finishing first during fourth practice, finishing 0.619 seconds ahead of Lorenzo, with Andrea Iannone in third.[15]

Marc Márquez in Friday practice

Pol Espargaro began Q1 by recording one of the fastest times of the weekend amongst the non-factory bikes, he set an even quicker lap time on his second attempt which secured his spot in Q2, while the battle for the second spot intensified as three riders including Aleix Espargaro, Danilo Petrucci and Miller exchanged second place in quick succession, with Aleix taking the second spot on his Suzuki despite being held up by the Aprilia riders Stefan Bradl and Álvaro Bautista.[14]

In what was described as “perfect track conditions”, Marquez won his eighth pole position for the season, leading throughout the entirety of the qualifying session, setting the fastest time of the weekend on his first attempt.[14][16] Aleix Espargaro came close to equalling Marquez's first qualifying record target, losing time in the final sector staying in second place at the halfway point of the session, while Lorenzo remained in third place after one attempt with Iannone in fourth.[14] Marquez made a strategic decision to complete three runs within the session and had the entire track to himself in his second run, allowing him to improve his time drastically.[14] During the last three minutes, everyone began improving their sector times, with no one being able to catch Marquez at the top.[14] In an unprecedented and rare moment for the sport, Iannone and Lorenzo tied for second place, with both men setting the exact same top qualifying time, Iannone declared the winner of the tiebreaker from his second fastest qualifying time, while Lorenzo only set one lap.[16] Despite qualifying in second, Iannone's tactics came underfire as he consistently tagged Lorenzo and followed him around the track lap after lap, a tactic that angered Lorenzo, Yamaha and journalists covering the event.[17] Iannone acknowledged that tagging Lorenzo helped his time, but stopped short of calling it cheating, stating he felt he could still achieve the same time without him, while Lorenzo and journalists disagreed with Iannone's statement.[14] Pedrosa qualified in fourth, despite being in the front row position throughout the session.[16] Crutchlow was crowned the top independent rider for the session, placing fifth and Vinales finishing sixth.[16] Championship leader, Rossi performed his worst qualifying session since Indianapolis, finishing in seventh place and on the third row.[16] Aleix and Pol Espargaro qualified eighth and ninth respectively.[18][19] After sweeping the weekend in practice and qualifying, fans and journalists began predicting how big a margin Marquez would win by and whether any other rider had a chance of victory, not anticipating the incredible race that would unexpectedly unfold the next day.[17]

Race

The race began at 4pm local time, with Iannone lead the field going into turn one, although the lead didn't last long as Lorenzo took over the lead by turn eight.[20] The beginning of the second lap, Iannone had retaken the lead but was bizarrely hit by a seagull flying on the track causing body damage to his bike, he briefly lapsed in concentration allowing Lorenzo to retake the lead and Marquez to join them the leading battle pack.[20] The battle began to heat up between the top three riders with obvious advantages and disadvantages between the Honda, Yamaha and Ducati. Iannone's Ducati had incredible straight line speed which allowed him to pass his competitors on the main straight with ease, while despite having the weakest straight line speed Lorenzo's Yamaha had the best corner speed of the three riders and Marquez's Honda being the most consistent in both the corners and the straight line speed.[17] The constant passing between the top three riders allowed Rossi and Crutchlow to catch up to the leading battle pack, although Crutchlow - whose LCR Honda was suffering from wheel spin - was not able to keep the same pace as the top four and began to drop away from the leaders.[17] When Rossi joined the leading battle pack, Lorenzo began to establish a dominant lead leaving Marquez, Iannone and Rossi in a three-way battle for second place.[20]

Lap 25, Lorenzo still had an established lead with Marquez, Rossi and Iannone still chasing when Rossi attempted to pass Marquez, the manoeuvre left open space for Iannone to pass both riders moving him from fourth to second, which was praised as one of the best overtakes of the season.[17][21] As the final lap began, Lorenzo was running first, Iannone in second, Marquez third and Rossi fourth.[20] Incredibly, Marquez completed his fastest lap of the race, managing to overtake Iannone, as well as Lorenzo halfway through the lap to win.[21] While Lorenzo was devastated, Iannone managed to pass Rossi on the final corner to take third place, shrinking Lorenzo's championship deficit to eleven points to his visible delight.[21]

Tammy Gorali, the MotoGP commentator for Sport 5 Israel, counted 52 passes between the top four riders including 13 lead changes throughout the race with Iannone completing the most of the riders with 18 overtakes.[22]

Post Race

The race has been applauded by fans, journalists and riders for its unpredictable nature and thrilling racing between race winner Marquez, eventual world champion Lorenzo, Iannone and Rossi, journalists calling it "the race we had been waiting for" and one of the best since the beginning of the 4-stroke era. Marquez expressed surprise when he passed Lorenzo on the final lap and didn't believe he could catch him as the front tyre of his bike began overheating towards the end of the race, also calling his race win one of the best in his career.[6][23] Lorenzo also admitted he was surprised when Marquez passed him, but praised him for his "unbelievable last lap".[6] He also praised the race calling it "the best this year and probably in the last five or 10 years."[23] Commentator Matt Birt, compared the finish between Marquez and Lorenzo to the finish of Lorenzo and Rossi at the 2009 Catalunya Grand Prix, describing the race as "breathless and fearless".[21] Iannone's incident with the seagull went viral on social media websites hours after the race, with memes and Facebook pages dedicated to the event.[24] Iannone saw the humorous side of the situation commenting at the press conference, "The seagull waited for the kiss".[24] Despite the seagull mishap, Iannone's performance is described as the best race of his MotoGP career.[21] The event trended worldwide on social media website Twitter, with celebrities such as Mark Webber, Pau Gasol and Ewan McGregor praising the race as one of the best.[25]

Rossi did not share the same positive views of the race as his fellow riders accusing Marquez and Lorenzo of conspiring against him to ensure that Lorenzo won this year's world title at his expense, a claim Marquez and Lorenzo both strongly denied.[26] He also accused Marquez of sandbagging the race to ensure that Lorenzo gained an unassailable lead to ensure he has a stronger chance of being able to catch up to Rossi's then eighteen point lead.[26] Marquez took offence to these comments which lead to their famous incident in Malaysia which resulted in Rossi receiving a last place grid penalty for Valencia, losing the world title to Lorenzo as a result. Rossi has since admitted regret in making the comments but has never apologised.[27]

Classification

Marc Márquez, celebrating on the podium after winning the MotoGP race.

MotoGP

Pos. No. Rider Team Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 93 Spain Marc Márquez Repsol Honda Team Honda 27 40:33.849 1 25
2 99 Spain Jorge Lorenzo Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 27 +0.249 3 20
3 29 Italy Andrea Iannone Ducati Team Ducati 27 +0.930 2 16
4 46 Italy Valentino Rossi Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 27 +1.058 7 13
5 26 Spain Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda 27 +5.062 4 11
6 25 Spain Maverick Viñales Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 27 +6.800 6 10
7 35 United Kingdom Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 27 +9.375 5 9
8 44 Spain Pol Espargaró Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 27 +18.401 9 8
9 41 Spain Aleix Espargaró Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 27 +20.039 8 7
10 38 United Kingdom Bradley Smith Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 27 +20.657 12 6
11 45 United Kingdom Scott Redding EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 27 +21.846 11 5
12 9 Italy Danilo Petrucci Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 27 +22.840 13 4
13 4 Italy Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Team Ducati 27 +29.168 10 3
14 19 Spain Álvaro Bautista Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 27 +37.244 18 2
15 43 Australia Jack Miller LCR Honda Honda 27 +40.192 15 1
16 8 Spain Héctor Barberá Avintia Racing Ducati 27 +48.263 14
17 68 Colombia Yonny Hernández Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 27 +48.572 17
18 76 France Loris Baz Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 27 +48.677 19
19 50 Republic of Ireland Eugene Laverty Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 27 +50.201 16
20 63 France Mike Di Meglio Avintia Racing Ducati 27 +50.262 22
21 6 Germany Stefan Bradl Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 27 +50.277 21
22 24 Spain Toni Elías Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 27 +1:20.942 24
23 13 Australia Anthony West AB Motoracing Honda 27 +1:23.454 23
Ret 69 United States Nicky Hayden Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 9 Mechanical 20
Ret 55 Australia Damian Cudlin E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART 9 Retirement 25
Sources:[28][29]

Moto2

Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 40 Spain Álex Rins Kalex 25 39:00.084 1 25
2 22 United Kingdom Sam Lowes Speed Up 25 +6.633 3 20
3 7 Italy Lorenzo Baldassarri Kalex 25 +10.408 9 16
4 30 Japan Takaaki Nakagami Kalex 25 +15.536 6 13
5 19 Belgium Xavier Siméon Kalex 25 +16.205 17 11
6 39 Spain Luis Salom Kalex 25 +17.241 16 10
7 5 France Johann Zarco Kalex 25 +20.456 7 9
8 36 Finland Mika Kallio Speed Up 25 +21.883 5 8
9 73 Spain Álex Márquez Kalex 25 +24.473 18 7
10 4 Switzerland Randy Krummenacher Kalex 25 +24.559 21 6
11 21 Italy Franco Morbidelli Kalex 25 +35.103 19 5
12 23 Germany Marcel Schrötter Tech 3 25 +36.583 20 4
13 3 Italy Simone Corsi Kalex 25 +36.588 12 3
14 88 Spain Ricard Cardús Suter 25 +36.642 11 2
15 12 Switzerland Thomas Lüthi Kalex 25 +38.115 4 1
16 55 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin Kalex 25 +47.215 13
17 2 Switzerland Jesko Raffin Kalex 25 +47.254 23
18 60 Spain Julián Simón Speed Up 25 +47.305 10
19 97 Spain Xavi Vierge Tech 3 25 +47.382 25
20 16 Australia Joshua Hook Kalex 25 +47.963 24
21 25 Malaysia Azlan Shah Kalex 25 +55.273 15
22 57 Spain Edgar Pons Kalex 25 +58.441 26
23 96 France Louis Rossi Tech 3 25 +59.229 22
24 49 Spain Axel Pons Kalex 25 +1:00.321 2
25 10 Thailand Thitipong Warokorn Kalex 25 +1:26.478 27
Ret 94 Germany Jonas Folger Kalex 21 Flat Tire 14
Ret 11 Germany Sandro Cortese Kalex 14 Accident 8
Ret 66 Germany Florian Alt Suter 10 Knee Pain 28
Ret 70 Switzerland Robin Mulhauser Kalex 9 Accident 29
DNS 1 Spain Tito Rabat Kalex Did not start
OFFICIAL MOTO2 REPORT

Moto3

Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 44 Portugal Miguel Oliveira KTM 23 37:34.742 2 25
2 7 Spain Efrén Vázquez Honda 23 +0.132 3 20
3 41 South Africa Brad Binder KTM 23 +0.161 9 16
4 9 Spain Jorge Navarro Honda 23 +0.170 4 13
5 84 Czech Republic Jakub Kornfeil KTM 23 +0.288 8 11
6 5 Italy Romano Fenati KTM 23 +1.006 5 10
7 65 Germany Philipp Öttl KTM 23 +6.200 23 9
8 32 Spain Isaac Viñales KTM 23 +6.253 10 8
9 10 France Alexis Masbou Honda 23 +6.322 17 7
10 2 Australia Remy Gardner Mahindra 23 +7.567 28 6
11 6 Spain María Herrera Husqvarna 23 +7.573 11 5
12 63 Malaysia Zulfahmi Khairuddin KTM 23 +10.088 13 4
13 96 Italy Manuel Pagliani Mahindra 23 +16.294 32 3
14 98 Czech Republic Karel Hanika KTM 23 +17.792 12 2
15 88 Spain Jorge Martín Mahindra 23 +17.814 19 1
16 19 Italy Alessandro Tonucci Mahindra 23 +18.205 22
17 23 Italy Niccolò Antonelli Honda 23 +37.921 15
18 22 Spain Ana Carrasco KTM 23 +42.463 31
19 35 Australia Olly Simpson KTM 23 +1:24.024 33
Ret 48 Italy Lorenzo Dalla Porta Husqvarna 15 Accident Damage 21
Ret 52 United Kingdom Danny Kent Honda 13 Accident 7
Ret 33 Italy Enea Bastianini Honda 13 Accident 25
Ret 55 Italy Andrea Locatelli Honda 13 Neck Pain 34
Ret 14 Australia Matt Barton FTR 13 Retirement 35
Ret 21 Italy Francesco Bagnaia Mahindra 9 Accident 26
Ret 95 France Jules Danilo Honda 8 Retirement 20
Ret 17 United Kingdom John McPhee Honda 6 Accident 1
Ret 36 Spain Joan Mir Honda 6 Accident 18
Ret 58 Spain Juan Francisco Guevara Mahindra 6 Accident 16
Ret 16 Italy Andrea Migno KTM 6 Accident 29
Ret 11 Belgium Livio Loi Honda 4 Accident 6
Ret 29 Italy Stefano Manzi Mahindra 0 Accident 14
Ret 91 Argentina Gabriel Rodrigo KTM 0 Accident 24
Ret 40 South Africa Darryn Binder Mahindra 0 Accident 27
Ret 24 Japan Tatsuki Suzuki Mahindra 0 Accident 30
DNS 20 France Fabio Quartararo Honda Did not start
OFFICIAL MOTO3 REPORT

Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round sixteen has concluded.[30]

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

Notes

  1. Danny Kent, who set the fastest time in qualifying, received a grid penalty which promoted John McPhee to the pole position grid slot.

References

  1. "2015 Australian MotoGP". Motorsportmagazine.com. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  2. Mitchell, Malcolm. "2015 MotoGP Class (FIM Grand Prix World Championship) Programmes - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". progcovers.com.
  3. Mitchell, Malcolm. "Phillip Island Circuit - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". progcovers.com. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  4. "Marquez's 50th victory sets title race alight". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 18 October 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  5. "Marc Marquez beats Jorge Lorenzo on last lap". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 18 October 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  6. Dawe, Joseph Caron (17 October 2015). "Marc Márquez wins a MotoGP classic in Australia". RedBull.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  7. "Oliveira victory in Moto3 keeps title hopes alive". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 18 October 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  8. "2015 provisional calendar released". www.motorcyclenews.com. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  9. "Motul Grand Prix of Japan - World Championship Classification" (PDF). www.motogp.com. 11 October 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  10. "2015 Pramac Australian Grand Prix - Entry list" (PDF). www.motogp.com. 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  11. "Aussie Cudlin to replace injured de Angelis". Speedcafe. 2015-10-15. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  12. "MotoGP 2015: Australian MotoGP qualifying live, timing results, video". Fox Sports. 2015-10-17. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  13. "2015 Free Practice 1 - Report | Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix". www.motogp.com.au. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  14. "MotoGP 2015: Australian MotoGP qualifying live, timing results, video". Fox Sports. 2015-10-17. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  15. "motogp.com · PRAMAC AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX · MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 4 Classification 2015". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  16. Sports, Dorna. "Sensational Marquez takes 8th pole position of 2015 | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  17. Emmett, David (18 October 2015). "2015 Phillip Island Sunday MotoGP Round Up - The Race That Defined An Era?". motomatters.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  18. Sports, Dorna. "Pol & Aleix Espargaro make it through to Q2 | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  19. "motogp.com · PRAMAC AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX · MotoGP Qualifying Nr. 2 Classification 2015". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  20. Lieback, Ron (18 October 2015). "2015 Phillip Island MotoGP Results: Australia GP Recap". Ultimate Motorcycling. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  21. Sports, Dorna. "I've watched the Australian GP race three times already! | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  22. Gorali, Tammy (18 October 2015). "Instagram". Archived from the original on 2021-12-24. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  23. Klein, Jamie (21 October 2015). "Analysis: Was Phillip Island the best ever MotoGP race?". motorsport.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  24. Schulz, Matthew (18 October 2015). "Australian MotoGP 2015: Seagull strike sparks social media tributes". news.com.au. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  25. Sports, Dorna. "The world reacts to #TheIslandBattle | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  26. English, Steve (22 October 2015). "Rossi: Marquez played with us in Phillip Island". Motorcycle News. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  27. Oxley, Mat (10 November 2015). "What really happened in MotoGP's 2015 finale". MotorSport. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  28. "2015 Australian MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". 13 June 2017.
  29. "PRAMAC AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX · MotoGP Race Classification 2015". MotoGP.com. "Race Classification after 27 laps = 120.096 km" (PDF).
  30. "Standings" (PDF). resources.motogp.com. 2015. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
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