MotoGP No Spoiler Results – 2015 Phillip Island MotoGP Results
Only two riders are capable of earning the 2015 MotoGP title – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi and teammate Jorge Lorenzo – but this didn’t slow the others Sunday during the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.
Four riders battled throughout the 27-lap race, and the winner would not be decided until turn 10 of the final lap. This is when Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez passed Lorenzo for the lead, and held the top position to the checkered flag. Marquez, who also earned Saturday his 30th MotoGP pole at Phillip Island, would finish 0.249 of a second ahead of Lorenzo. Earning third after some serious dicing with nine-time World Champion Rossi was Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone.
The talk of the race was after the Italian Iannone took out a seagull while in the lead early in the race. But the Ducati GP15 pilot quickly regained his composure, and remained up front for the entire GP. He would beat Rossi to the final podium position by a mere 0.128 of a second. The top-four riders would all finish within a second of each other.
Due to the factory Yamaha YZR-M1 pilots’ finishes, Rossi’s 18-point lead over Lorenzo was depleted to just 11 with two rounds remaining.
The majority of the excitement was in the Repsol Honda garage, though. This was Marquez’s first MotoGP victory at Phillip Island (he crashed out while in the lead last season, and was disqualified for a blotched pit in 2013), and he is now tied with teammate Dani Pedrosa for 50-career GP wins.
Marc Marquez says: ”It was a really fun race ‒ certainly one to remember ‒ and it had different phases to it. At the beginning there was a lot of overtaking, then when I passed Jorge it seemed that I was breaking away. However, I overheated the front tyre and had to slow my pace. At the end I overtook Iannone and Valentino and I had a great last lap; I don’t know where I pulled that time out from, but it was what made the difference for us! I want to thank all the team, Honda and all the fans. After a difficult season it’s always nice to finish the year with some victories!”
2015 Phillip Island MotoGP Results – Recap
Starting from second on the grid, Iannone got to turn one first, followed by Lorenzo and Marquez. Lorenzo moved into first at turn eight, just to lose it again to Iannone on the second lap. But at the entrance to turn four, Iannone hit a seagull, and moved back to second.
Marquez then got into the mix, and he, Iannone and Lorenzo swapped the lead a few times. As for Rossi, he was quickly up front after a seventh-place start. He overtook Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa and LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow and moved into fourth on lap four.
Lorenzo pulled away as Iannone, Rossi and Marquez battled. These three would eventually catch up with Lorenzo with 10 laps to go, and all four battled to the checkered flag. Iannone’s straight-away speeds on the Ducati was unbelievable, but every time he got to the front he would be passed once again by the others.
During the final lap, Marquez passed Iannone and then Lorenzo on turn 10. The 22-year-old Spaniard was able to keep the lead to beat his teammate. Rossi did everything possible to earn third, but he couldn’t get pass Iannone. Regardless, Rossi, who started his 328th GP race Sunday (tied with Loris Capirossi for most starts) was able to keep his championship hopes more than alive.
Pedrosa, who won at Motegi last week, would earn fifth ahead of Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Maverick Vinales and the top satellite pilot, LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow. This was Vinales’ best MotoGP finish.
Rounding out the top 10 were Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Esparagro, Team Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro, and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith.
LCR Honda’s Jack Miller took the top Open class finish before his home crowd with 15th As for the sole American in MotoGP, Aspar Honda’s Nicky Hayden, who joins Ten Kate Honda in 2016 World Superbike, suffered a DNF due to technical issues.
Amazingly, there were no crashes during the 2015 Australian Grand Prix. The only rider to crash all weekend was Smith (free practice four). Due to Lorenzo and Rossi’s finishes, Yamaha has now scored its 37th Manufacturers’ title, the 14th in premier class.
The 2015 MotoGP Championship now heads directly to Sepang in Malaysia for the penultimate round.
2015 Phillip Island MotoGP Results
1. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 40’33.849
2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP + 00.249
3. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Ducati Team + 00.930
4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP + 1.058
5. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team + 5.062
6. Maverick Viñales (SPA) Team Suzuki Ecstar + 6.800
7. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) CWM LCR Honda + 9.375
8. Pol Espargarò (SPA) Monster Yamaha Tech3 + 18.401
9. Aleix Espargarò (SPA) Team Suzuki Ecstar + 20.039
10. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 + 20.657
11. Scott Redding (GBR) Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS + 21.846
12. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Octo Pramac Racing + 22.840
13. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team + 29.168
14. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini + 37.244
15. Jack Miller (AUS) CWM LCR Honda + 40.192
16. Hector Barbera (SPA) Avintia Racing + 48.263
17. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Octo Pramac Racing + 48.572
18. Loris Baz (FRA) Forward Racing + 48.677
19. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Aspar MotoGP Team + 50.201
20. Mike Di Meglio (FRA) Avintia Racing + 50.262
21. Stefan Bradl (GER) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini + 50.277
22. Toni Elias (SPA) Forward Racing + 1’20.942
23. Anthony West (AUS) AB Motoracing + 1’23.454
24. Nicky Hayden (USA) Aspar MotoGP Team N.C. (18 laps)
25. Damian Cudlin (AUS) E-Motion IodaRacing Team N.C. (18 laps)
2015 MotoGP Point Standings
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 296
2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 285
3. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 222
4. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Ducati Team 188
5. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 165
6. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 158
7. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team 153
8. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) CWM LCR Honda 107
9. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Octo Pramac Racing 97
10. Pol Espargarò (SPA) Monster Yamaha Tech3 96
11. Aleix Espargarò (SPA) Team Suzuki Ecstar 88
12. Maverick Viñales (SPA) Team Suzuki Ecstar 84
13. Scott Redding (GBR) Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 78
14. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Octo Pramac Racing 49
15. Hector Barbera (SPA) Avintia Racing 30
16. Loris Baz (FRA) Forward Racing 28
17. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 28
18. Jack Miller (AUS) CWM LCR Honda 17
19. Nicky Hayden (USA) Aspar MotoGP Team 16
20. Stefan Bradl (GER) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 11
21. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Aspar MotoGP Team 9
22. Mike Di Meglio (FRA) Avintia Racing 8
23. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Repsol Honda Team 5
24. Alex De Angelis (RSM) E-Motion IodaRacing Team 2
2015 Phillip Island MotoGP Results – Photo Gallery
