KTM will be able to leave Australia with a feeling of accomplishment. A doubled in Moto2, which also marked the first success of the Mattighofen chassis in the category, preceded a solid overall result in MotoGP. The two RC16s were thus classified in the top 10, with Pol Espargaró ninth who preceded Smith who found himself tenth. Meanwhile, the top Aprilia driven by brother Aleix retired after a crash, so that KTM was ready to take Noale's mark before the end of the season in the manufacturers' championship!
It was the dream barely revealed at the start of this season, and now it could well become reality before the end of the year. For its first campaign in MotoGP, KTM would do better than Aprilia, which is in its third campaign. The situation among the manufacturers is as follows, two meetings from the goal: 1. Honda 319. 2. Yamaha 285. 3. Ducati 278. 4. Suzuki 87. 5 Aprilia 64. 6. KTM 58.
KTM is therefore six points behind Aprilia which will have to face Malaysia next weekend with a Aleix Espargaro with a broken hand following his Australian fall. Furthermore, this is the ninth race in a row that the RC16 has finished among the top eleven. And at Phillip Island, the orange shirts did better than the red Ducati by scoring 13 points against 11!
« Yes, it's crazy when you think you're just getting started " welcomes Pol Espargaro. “ We were hoping for a few top 10s and here we are regularly, whether wet or dry. At Phillip Island, I finished 16.2 seconds behind the winner after 27 laps. The gap is not that huge ».
« We can be satisfied with our performance today because the track was not as favorable for us as during FP4. On this occasion I did an interesting race simulation, but I was not able to find the same pace. This disturbed me at first and the good car went ahead without waiting for me! But whatever, we beat bikes that were generally stronger than ours. ».
« Now comes Malaysia, a totally different circuit. I'm curious to know what our bike will do there ».
#AustralianGP MotoGP J.3: Ranking
| 1 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 40'49.772 |
| 2 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | +1.799 |
| 3 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | +1.826 |
| 4 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | +1.842 |
| 5 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | +3.845 |
| 6 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | +3.871 |
| 7 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | +5.619 |
| 8 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | +12.208 |
| 9 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | +16.251 |
| 10 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | +16.262 |
| 11 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Ducati | +21.652 |
| 12 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | +21.668 |
| 13 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | +21.692 |
| 14 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | +26.110 |
| 15 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | +26.168 |
| 16 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Honda | +26.252 |
| 17 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | +36.377 |
| 18 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Ducati | +39.654 |
| 19 | 22 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia | +40.400 |
| 20 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | +45.901 |
| 21 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | +48.768 |
| 22 | 23 | Broc PARKES | Yamaha | +57.711 |
| Not Classified | ||||
| 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 20 lapses |
