Marc Marquez “gave everything” against Martin in MotoGP Sprint “title battle”

Marc Marquez says he “gave everything” in his thrilling Australian MotoGP Sprint duel with title rival Jorge Martin.

For seven and a half laps, Marquez and Martin gave Phillip Island a fitting Sprint send-off, trading the race and World Championship lead in a breathtaking display of “on the limit” racing.

But Martin crossed the fine line between glory and disaster at Turn 8 on lap eight, losing the front of his Aprilia and bouncing through the gravel while chasing Marquez.

Marquez went on to win and retake the championship lead, before news arrived that Martin had fractured his right forearm and has been ruled out of Sunday's Grand Prix.

“First of all, my team just informed me that Jorge is in the medical centre, so I wish the best for him, also because it will be good for the championship show,” Marc Marquez told MotoGP.com.

“But today was a title fight. Aggressive, at the limit, but inside the limit.

“If it was not Jorge, I would be calmer. But it was Jorge, and so I gave everything to attack him as soon as possible when he overtook me, because he was faster than me.”

Although Aprilia had shown its potential from Friday Practice, Marquez had beaten Martin in every session before the Sprint, in both dry and wet conditions.

The 2024 champion then stepped up to challenge Marquez in the Sprint, but was also riding on the limit, running wide several times after taking the lead.

“He was only faster in two corners, the last corner and corner one. In the rest of the circuit, I was a bit faster, I was riding comfortable,” Marquez said.

After Martin's injuries were officially confirmed, Marquez added: "I'm happy with the win, but I feel sorry for Jorge. I wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on track soon.”

Marc Marquez thanks brother Alex

With Martin down and out, Marquez still potentially faced a challenge from younger brother Alex, who had caught the leading duo.

Marc admitted Alex had the pace to win, but insisted he would have fought hard if the Gresini rider had attempted to pass and thanked him for not taking any risks.

“I just asked him [in parc ferme] if he had much more or not, because it's true that I was defending, as you see with Jorge, I was just trying to manage,” Marc said.

“When I saw Alex behind, I was defending, but in a more relaxed way.

“I knew that maybe he was very fast, but as we see, if you want to overtake me, you need to take a lot of risk - as Jorge did.

“Today Alex had the speed to win maybe, but also I was ready to fight. But he was very fast and just I say thanks to him [for not taking any risk to pass].”

Marquez faces wet Australian Grand Prix

Marquez now has an open goal as far as increasing his world championship advantage over the absent Martin in Sunday's grand prix.

However, with the worst weather of the weekend forecast, the Ducati rider is taking nothing for granted.

“With wet conditions you never know, and also today it was like rain, rain, and in the end it was a dry race!" Marquez said.

“But tomorrow it looks like the amount of water on the track will be very different, a lot.

“Today it rained [in the morning] but there was very little water on the track.

“We need to understand well, the race will be very long and we need to be super concentrated.

“Be ready for any conditions, and adapt as quickly as possible.”