2024 Australian MotoGP: Race as it happened

Di Giannantonio runs wide at Turn 4 though trying to overtake Binder and is back to eighth. 

lap 15/27

Onto lap 15. Top three as you were. Bastianini has been shuffled down to seventh after a great pass by Di Giannantonio at Turn 1. 

lap 14/27

Bagnaia is struggling to go with the top two here. But that could be a front tyre pressure management thing. 

lap 13/27

Martin leads Marquez and Bagnaia to start lap 13. It's cooking up nicely at the front here!

Still hard to know if Martin is just easing off to manage his tyre or is genuinely struggling. He looks good exiting the turns for now. 

Bagnaia takes the lead from Martin at Turn 3! But Martin fights back at Turn 4 and Marquez now comes through to second. 

lap 12/27

Martin's lead comes down again to 0.5s and is wide at Turn 1! 

The top 3 are over three seconds clear of the rest of the field. Morbidelli is the chaser in fourth, with Binder behind him upholding KTM honour. 

lap 11/27

Martin's lead has come down to 0.644s over Bagnaia, while Marquez can't find a way into second yet. 

Is Martin hitting tyre trouble or just managing? He got caught out big time last year while leading in Australia when he overcooked his rear.

lap 10/27

Marquez puts in a 1m27.765s as a new fastest lap and is hounding Bagnaia for second. Martin's lead still 0.8s.

A replay shows Marquez's bad start may have been caused by a his own tear-off getting stuck under his rear tyre!

lap 9/27

Onto lap nine and Martin continues to lead, while Marquez is a bit closer again to Bagnaia. 

Behind, Bastianini is really struggling in sixth and is under big threat from Di Giannantonio. 

lap 8/27

Martin's lead is 0.8s over Bagnaia, while Marquez fires in a 1m27.9s to set a new race lap record at Phillip Island. He is just 0.5s behind Bagnaia now!

Lap 7/27

Martin starts lap seven 0.9s clear of Bagnaia, while Marquez is closing slightly in on Bagnaia. 

Luca Marini has been told to drop a place for overtaking under yellow flags.

Marquez is 1.7s behind Martin, so this is not over by a long shot with 22 laps to go. But how much has he had to use his rear tyre to recover from his terrible start?

lap 6/27

Martin is now 0.7s over Bagnaia, while Marquez takes third from Morbidelli at Turn 1 having just set a fastest lap of 1m28.086s.

lap 5/27 - incident 

Bezzecchi has crashed at Turn 4. Martin's lead is now 0.8s.

Marquez is up to fourth now after Binder ran wide at Turn 1 on this lap and Bez took his penalty. 

lap 4/27

Martin continues to lead and is breaking away from the pack now. His gap is 0.6s. Bagnaia moves into second as Bezzecchi takes his penalty.

The question facing Marc Marquez now is how much damage has he done to that rear tyre after lighting it up off the line. 

lap 3/27

Martin's lead is stable at 0.3s across the line. Order is as you were for the top 10, with the exception of Binder moving ahead of Morbidelli for fourth.

Marquez did warn on Saturday that a 'rally race' would see Martin dominate. 

lap 2/27

Martin leads by 0.311s from Bezzecchi, who has a long lap penalty to serve. Bagnaia third, Morbidelli fourth, Binder fifth, Marquez sixth, Bastianini seventh, Vinales eighth, Di Giannantonio ninth and Quartararo 10th.

Marquez has dropped to seventh but has just gained a place on Enea Bastianini. Bezzecchi is being hounded by Bagnaia for second. 

race start - lap 1/27

Martin has nailed the launch but huge wheelspin from Marc Marquez sends him down the order. Bezzecchi is second. 

Warm-up lap is underway.

tyre choice

Confirmation from Michelin that everyone is on the soft rear and front.