It’s off to Australia and on to ‘The Island’ – Phillip Island to be precise, mythical to all those who know and to become so for those who don’t… yet. The rumble Down Under brings with it one of the most spectacular settings of the season and year after year, delivers immense racing, late dramas and last lap showdowns. Phillip Island, come rain or shine, always brings the action and in 2025, with big names absent, it’s a land of opportunity too.<\/p>\n
MARC MARQUEZ OUT: newly-crowned Champion on the sidelines<\/p>\n
With\u00a0Marc Marquez\u00a0(Ducati Lenovo Team) already World Champion but out of action in Australia and indeed Malaysia with an injured shoulder, attention is fully turned to the battle for second. After his Japan highs,\u00a0Francesco Bagnaia\u00a0(Ducati Lenovo Team) suffered another low point in Indonesia, failing to score points, denting his quest for the runner-up spot in 2025. That honour lies with\u00a0Alex Marquez\u00a0(BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) who was on the rostrum at Mandalika and chases a repeat performance again. Partnering up with Bagnaia in Marc\u2019s absence is Ducati\u2019s test rider Michele Pirro.<\/p>\n
It was Alex Marquez\u2019s teammate who stole the headlines last time out though as\u00a0Fermin Aldeguer\u00a0(BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) became the second-youngest MotoGP winner ever, after only Marc Marquez. He now gears up for Australia and Phillip Island, where he was a winner in 2023\u2019s Moto2\u2122 Grand Prix. The #54 loves the flyaways and with a dream come true two weeks ago, can he finish a stunning rookie year with a flurry?<\/p>\n
APRILIA\u2019S ROLLERCOASTER: light amidst the challenges<\/p>\n
Aprilia\u2019s form may have been good and the potential there for\u00a0Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) to double up in Indonesia, but his Lap 1 clash with Marc Marquez resulted in huge missed opportunity for the Italian, who was looking to land a blow in the race for P3 overall. The #72 will hope to rekindle the same pace at Phillip Island. He’ll likely be joined by\u00a0Lorenzo Savadori in the box this weekend, with Jorge Martin still out through injury. Ai Ogura\u2019s (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) attendance is subject to confirmation but it was teammate\u00a0Raul Fernandez\u00a0who had Aprilia\u2019s weight on him in Indonesia. The Spaniard took a first rostrum in over a year in the Tissot Sprint whilst bagging sixth on Sunday. A double top ten on \u2018The Island\u2019 last year, he aims to be in the fight again.<\/p>\n
KTM STRENGTH: podium fight, victory contenders?<\/p>\n
With two KTMs in the top four on Sunday for the second time in four GPs, the Austrian manufacturer\u2019s second-half push continues. Second last time out and getting the gap to the top four down to 39 points,\u00a0Pedro Acosta\u00a0(Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) still has a challenge on to catch Bezzecchi but it\u2019s not impossible. Teammate Brad Binder\u2019s fourth place in Indonesia was his best Sunday result of 2025 and having been in the top ten in every Australian MotoGP outing, he searches for a first podium since Lusail last year.\u00a0Enea Bastianini\u00a0(Red Bull KTM Tech 3) was on last year\u2019s Sprint podium at Phillip Island and hopes to bounce back from his Indonesia DNF; he\u2019ll have a different teammate in\u00a0Pol Espargaro, with\u00a0Maverick Vi\u00f1ales\u2019 recovery ongoing from his shoulder injury sustained at the Sachsenring.<\/p>\n
OUTSIDERS: the battle for P5 and surprise acts from Mandalika<\/p>\n
Acosta has risen ahead of\u00a0Franco Morbidelli\u00a0(Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and teammate\u00a0Fabio Di Giannantonio\u00a0overall, both of whom have been in the top ten but neither on a Sunday podium since Mugello. Aldeguer is now just 10 points adrift of \u2018Diggia\u2019 whilst 23 further back from MotoGP\u2019s newest Grand Prix winner is\u00a0Fabio Quartararo\u00a0(Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), yet to enjoy a top six finish Down Under. His fellow countryman and 2023 Australian GP winner\u00a0Johann Zarco\u00a0(CASTROL Honda LCR) rounds out the top ten whilst it was\u00a0Alex Rins\u00a0(Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) who fought for a podium last time out. Another Yamaha rider who is always a star at his home event is\u00a0Jack Miller\u00a0(Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP). A podium in 2019 and in victory contention in 2022, expect Miller to be right in the thick of the action once more.<\/p>\n
You can never discount\u00a0Luca Marini\u00a0(Honda HRC Castrol) or teammate\u00a0Joan Mir, both of whom have been in the podium fight in recent rounds and in the case of Mir, on the podium at Motegi. Points in the last five GPs and a first Sprint point of the season,\u00a0Miguel Oliveira\u00a0(Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) hopes to extrapolate that form whilst with three points-scoring finishes in a row,\u00a0Somkiat Chantra\u00a0(IDEMITSU Honda LCR) likewise aims for the same.<\/p>\n
What’s left to be said? Home to some of the closest finishes, wildest last lap deciders and most unpredictable winners, Phillip Island really is unmissable! Tune in this weekend for the Liqui Moly Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s off to Australia and on to ‘The Island’ – Phillip Island to be precise, mythical to all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-210571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motor","11":"tag-motor-sports","12":"tag-motosport","13":"tag-motosports","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}