Marco Bezzecchi fought back from a difficult opening lap to lead Aprilia to its first-ever 1-2 finish in a MotoGP Sprint at Phillip Island.
Bezzecchi had to overcome a seagull getting stuck in his Aprilia machinery on the warm-up lap, which saw him drop down to third on the start, but went on to take victory by over three seconds.
Alex Marquez made the best start from sixth on the grid and used the straight-line speed of the Ducati to move into the lead of the race.
Raul Fernandez also made a fantastic start aboard the Trackhouse Aprilia and moved into second position, before using his superior speed to pass Marquez at Turn 3 for the lead.
Marquez ran wide at Turn four, which allowed Bezzecchi the opportunity to move back into second position and made it an RS-GP 1-2.
On Lap 2, Brad Binder crashed out of ninth position just as KTM team-mate Pedro Acosta began to make progress. The Spanish rider overtook polesitter Fabio Quartararo at Turn 1 before attempting a move on Jack Miller.
However, the Australian rider responded immediately and moved back past the KTM man. Both riders then managed to close the gap to Marquez in third, resulting in a three-way duel for the final spot on the podium.
As Marquez looked to get away from the pair, the slipstream effect allowed both Miller and Acosta to get back on level terms. Acosta held the inside line going into Turn 1 to produce a double overtake and move into third.
Bezzecchi closed in on Raul Fernandez with seven laps remaining, but blew the corner at Turn 10, resulting in a second gap opening up between the pair again.
However, the Italian clearly had the best pace of the riders on the circuit, and was able to regain the initiative. The factory Aprilia rider took the lead with three laps remaining and set off to build an insurmountable advantage over Fernandez.
In the fight for the podium, Fabio Di Giannantonio showcased late race pace and passed Quartararo and Marquez for fourth position, before getting onto the back of the Miller-Acosta battle for third.
Despite Miller’s best efforts, the Australian was unable to find the crucial opportunity to pass Acosta and looked to miss out on a home podium.
Out front, Bezzecchi crossed the line to take victory by 3.149s over Fernandez as Aprili recorded its first ever Sprint 1-2
Acosta saw off the challenge from Miller to take the final spot on the podium, while the home favourite was forced to settle for fourth position.
Di Giannantonio crossed the line in fifth as the highest-placed Ducati, marking the first time in Sprint race history that a Desmosedici machine did not feature on the podium.
Marquez struggled in the late stages as he came home in sixth, while polesitter Quartararo couldn’t maintain the pace of the leaders and finished seventh.
Luca Marini took the chequered flag in eighth, while Pol Espargaro earned the final point in ninth over team-mate Enea Bastianini.
The second factory Honda of Joan Mir was 11th, while Johann Zarco outdragged Alex Rins to the line for 12th.
Miguel Oliveira completed the Sprint in 14th ahead of Franco Morbidelli, while Ai Ogura came home in 16th.
Lorenzo Savadori was 17th at the flag, besting Somkiat Chantra who took 18th.
Francesco Bagnaia struggled throughout another Sprint race and crossed the line in 19th, while Michele Pirro completed the finishers in 20th.
Fermin Aldeguer suffered a late crash and joined Binder as the retirements from the Sprint race.
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