Marc Márquez wins sprint and regains leadership after Martin's fall

Márquez completed the 13 laps of the Phillip Island circuit in 19.09,411 minutes, imposing himself on brother Alex Márquez (Ducati), who finished in second position, at 0.323 seconds, and the Italian Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati), which was third, at 0.590.

The fight for victory was marked by the duel between the first two of the championship, with successive exchanges of position, until Martín fell in the eighth of the 13 laps, when he followed in second.

The Aprilia pilot, who had arrived in Australia with two points of advantage over Márquez, lost control of the motorcycle at turn eight, after passing over the broker in the previous curve, being transported to the medical center of the circuit.

The tests revealed a fracture of the radius and suspicion of another at the distal end of the cubit, next to the wrist, and Martín was declared unfit to compete on Sunday's main race.

Márquez, who had left the pole position, kept the command at the start, while Martín climbed from room to second and quickly launched into the discussion by the leadership.

Aprilia's pilot managed to take first position, but a mistake in the fifth round allowed the opponent to regain command. The attempts to overtake continued until the fall that took Martín out of the race.

In the final laps, Alex Márquez and Di Giannantonio approached the winner, but failed to stop a podium entirely occupied by Ducati drivers.

Bezzecchi recovered from 12th at the end of the first round to fourth, at 1,074 seconds, ahead of the Spanish Pedro Acosta (KTM), fifth, to 3.689.

The Japanese Ai Ogura (Aprilia) crossed the goal in sixth, but received an eight-second penalty for a tyre pressure violation, falling to 13.

The sanction promoted South African Brad Binder (KTM) to sixth, Australian Jack Miller (Yamaha) to seventh, Brazilian Diogo Moreira (Honda) to eighth, and Spanish Iker Lecuona (Ducati) to ninth, last point.

With the ninth sprint race win this season, the championship champion went on to add 365 points, 10 more than Martin and 50 more than the Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia), fourth ranked in the Australian race.

Without Jorge Martin on Sunday, and at a time when there are still four more Grand Prixes left after Australia, Marc Márquez has the open track for a 10th world title, and can surpass Valentino Rossi's nine.