MotoGP: Marquez wins thriller Down Under with last-lap pass on Lorenzo
One could have been forgiven for thinking that Marc Marquez would walk away with the victory at the 2015 MotoGP Australian GP at Phillip Island following the Spaniard’s pace in practice in qualifying.
While it's true that Marquez won the race, it was far from a walk in the park.
A frantic opening several laps saw Marquez get mired behind a hard-fought battle for the top spot between Andrea Iannone and Jorge Lorenzo.
Lorenzo was finally able to put his Yamaha in front and Marquez began dicing with Iannone for second place, which brought Valentino Rossi into the fray after the Italian had worked his way up from his seventh-place starting spot.
Marquez then finally secured second position before leading Rossi and Iannone in pursuit of Lorenzo.
When they arrived, the positions continued to change lap by lap, with Lorenzo again breaking out with the lead in the closing laps.
Throughout the race, Andrea Iannone - whose Ducati was sporting damage on the front after smashing into a seagull - proved himself to be the most opportunistic passer, yet each pass among the four was completed without an incident:
However, the final lap was a piece of artwork from Marquez, who set the fastest lap of the race despite forcing a move on Lorenzo with three turns to go that ultimately ended up giving him the victory.
Lorenzo crossed the line in second while Iannone just beat Rossi to third.
Subsequently, Lorenzo was able to close in on his Yamaha teammate Rossi in the points, reducing his deficit from 18 to 11 points.
Full MotoGP race results:
