(Reuters) – Pramac Racing’s Johann Zarco won the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday for his first ever MotoGP race victory as his team mate and championship contender Jorge Martin lost the lead on the final lap.
The race was held on Saturday after MotoGP organisers swapped it with the sprint due to bad weather forecast at Phillip Island on Sunday, the first time the race was moved since the Dutch Grand Prix in 2015.
Martin had taken pole by smashing the lap record and no rider on the grid was a match for the Spaniard’s searing pace, but he lost grip in the final laps and missed out on a podium as Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia stormed his way to second place.
Fabio Di Giannantonio, who does not have a seat next year with Gresini Racing, was third while Martin finished fifth behind Brad Binder to drop 27 points behind Bagnaia in the riders championship.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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