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2023 MotoGP Season
2023 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix
Round 16
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Phillip Island, Australia
Sunday, 22 October 2023
Marco Bezzecchi will be eager to keep his hopes of clinching the
2023 MotoGP world title alive by winning the Australian MotoGP.
Most recent race
The Ducati Mooney VR46 Racing Team rider missed out on the Indonesian MotoGP title which took place on 15 October.
Bezzecchi started on the ninth grid and he narrowly missed out on a podium spot as he finished fifth - collecting 11 vital points.
Standings
The 24-year-old, who is in his second season in MotoGP, remains third on the riders' standings having accumulated 283 points from 15 races.
Bezzecchi is 63 points behind leader Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati and 45 points behind second-placed Jorge Martin of Ducati.
Why Bezzecchi could win the 2023 Australian MotoGP
The former Redox PrüstelGP rider narrowly missed out on a podium spot at the 2022 Australian MotoGP as he finished fourth.
Bezzecchi, who won this season's Indian MotoGP, Argentine MotoGP and French MotoGP, has what it takes to emerge victorious in this weekend's race.
What did he say?
“My plan was to be conservative in the beginning," Bezzecchi said after finishing fifth at the 2023 Indonesian MotoGP.
"The problem is that in MotoGP right now when you are a bit too conservative in the first laps then you get treated like a punchbag. I was a little bit too far back for my plan.
"but after when I saw that I could recover I didn't panic too much. I tried anyway to manage the tyres because I knew that I was going to need some grip in the end. And fortunately, I was fast in the end. So can't complain.”
2022 Australian MotoGP results
Winner: Alex Rins - Suzuki
Runner-Up: Marc Marquez - Honda
Third-Place: Francesco Bagnaia - Ducati