Fernandez takes maiden win on Aussie soil

Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez has taken a surprise maiden MotoGP victory after dominating the 2025 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

Fernandez controlled the majority of the 27-lap race and took a comfortable 1.418s win over Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Marco Bezzecchi led early from pole, but had to settle for third after serving a double long lap penalty for his crash with Marc Marquez at Thailand.

All three podium riders celebrated their hard-fought results like a victory.

Jack Miller sadly could not complete the Aussie podium sweep after Senna Agius’ Moto2 win and Joel Kelso’s Moto3 runner-up finish.

The Pramac Yamaha rider held a top-five place before crashing on the fourth tour of Siberia.

Bezzecchi holds off field from pole as Fernandez and Acosta got strong launches to rise into podium positions, while Quartararo and Miller both dropped back to round out the top five.

Acosta and Fernandez wrestled for second at the start of the second lap with the KTM young gun prevailing with a dive down the inside of Doohan.

Bezzecchi was flying and the only rider to fly into the 1m27s region during the early stages.

This pace allowed him to build a second on the clear before he started serving his double long lap penalties for his crash with Marc Marquez last start in Thailand.

The first tour saw him slip to third and the second and final detour dropped the Italian to sixth.

Meanwhile, Fernandez wrestled the lead from Acosta and quickly built a 1s advantage.

It took just four laps for the Island to claim its first victims.

Johann Zarco ran wide at Doohan and could never recover, sliding into the gravel at high speed.

To the shock of the home crowd, Miller also fell on the same lap.

The Aussie was looking solid in the top five until he suddenly lost the front at Siberia.

Joan Mir soon joined the pair on the sidelines with a tumble at MG.

After multiple failed attempts, Bezzecchi’s bounce back did not begin until Lap 11 when he finally clawed back into the top five by passing Quartararo.

But it was a slow rebound as he also took multiple laps to make an impression on Di Giannantonio.

As Fernandez checked out by more than 2s, Acosta found himself under pressure from Marquez.

The KTM rider offered some fight, but could not stop the Gresini Spaniard from flying past around the outside of the Miller hairpin.

Marquez now faced the prospect of trimming a 2.8s deficit in 10 laps, but struggled to make an impression.

The best battle was for the final spot on the podium as Di Giannantonio required multiple attempts to displace Acosta.

Once off the podium, Acosta had little left and could only watch as Bezzecchi pulled off a stunning move at Hayshed to steal fourth.

Bagnaia was nowhere, not even making an impression on the top 10, and his tough race came to an early finish.

The Ducati star lost control on the approach to Siberia and slid through the gravel on Lap 23.

The contest for the final spot on the podium reignited as late as the penultimate lap.

Bezzecchi had caught Marquez and snared third with a late, but clean dive at MG.

This proved to be the last blow in an interesting Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

Acosta had dropped 4s adrift of the top four and held fifth from Luca Marini by a slender 0.040s.

Alex Rins, Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini and Pol Espargaro completed the top 10.

After Phillip Island’s annual blast, MotoGP heads to Malaysia next weekend.

Image: Gold and Goose/MotoGP