MotoGP race director Mike Webb expects negotiations to move the date of the Australian Grand Prix to avoid weather disruptions at future races.

Sunday running at Phillip Island was declared with only the Moto3 race and half the Moto2 race completed. MotoGP riders never took to the circuit, with wind speed too extreme for track action.

The Bureau of Meteorology observed gusts of more than 50 kilometres per hour on Sunday, though the circuit’s location overlooking Bass Strait means it was likely battered by more extreme winds, with gales of up to 87 kilometres per hour having been forecast for the surrounding waters.

The MotoGP sprint at the Australian Grand Prix has been called off on safety grounds due to extreme weather at Phillip Island.

Team managers were spotted in a meeting with race organisers in the paddock around 40 minutes before the short race’s scheduled 1:00pm start, with confirmation coming at 12:30pm that the rest of the weekend would be abandoned due to high winds and rain.

“I think it was a great call yesterday to have the main race on Saturday,” RNF team manager Wilco Zeelenberg said. “We see clearly there is a lot of wind and a lot of rain.

The first Saturday Grand Prix in eight years didn’t disappoint. But then Phillip Island rarely does.

The time-shifted Australian Grand Prix was an afternoon of motorcycle racing’s greatest hits.

It started as a demonstration of pure pace, with Jorge Martin dominating off the lined and putting what seemed to be an insurmountable 3.5 seconds on the rest of the field.

First-time MotoGP winner Johann Zarco has admitted to doubting whether he had what it takes to win in the premier class in the lead-up to his maiden victory in a corking Australian Grand Prix.

French veteran Zarco snatched the lead from Pramac teammate Jorge Martin in a thrilling five-rider last-lap duel with eight corners remaining to take the chequered flag for the first time.

Zarco had been searching for his maiden victory for the better part of seven seasons in MotoGP, a prospect that would have seemed unthinkable when he debuted in the sport as a double Moto2 champion.

Francesco Bagnaia has twisted the knife into fumbling title challenger Jorge Martin with some veiled criticism after yet again stretching his points advantage thanks to his rival’s mistake.

Martin led all but the last eight corners of the Australian Grand Prix after gambling his pole position on a soft rear tyre. It gave him a massive 3.5-second lead in the middle of the race but pulled itself apart before the end of the afternoon, dropping him from first to fifth on the last lap.

Bagnaia had been mired in a battle for third for much of that time but stormed home thanks to his superior tyre strategy to finish second, adding nine points to his title lead.

Johann Zarco has passed teammate Jorge Martin to claim a thrilling first MotoGP victory in his 120th premier-class start.

Martin led every lap but the last in what was close to a perfect performance, but the Spaniard gambled his victory chances on the soft rear tyre that let him down in the final 10 laps.

The Pramac rider was a sitting duck as his seemingly insurmountable 3.5-second lead in the middle of the race was whittled down to nothing by a four-rider pack that smelt blood.

Title leader Francesco Bagnaia has failed to directly qualify for the top 10 on the grid for the second week in a row in a crucial timed practice session headed by KTM teammates Brad Binder and Aussie Jack Miller.

Bagnaia had been off the pace all session and found himself needing to set a competitive time in the last three minutes of the hour.

Championship rival Jorge Martin, among a gaggle of other riders, disrupted his rhythm by picking up his slipstream on his first lap. Bagnaia attempted to shake the pack but in doing so compromised his first lap, which ended with an unrepresentative time.