Sunday’s race of Australian GP was cancelled due to the rain affecting the security, but MotoGP wanted to pay tribute to Phillip Island in its last appearance in the calendar.

The Phillip Island adventure in MotoGP ended with a parade lap in the rain. The bad weather didn’t allow to race on Sunday due to the limited visibility affecting the operation of the medical helicopter in case of emergency. So, the World Championship bid farewell to one of the most iconic tracks in the calendar with a rider’s parade, in which they expressed gratitude to the fans and paid tribute to a track that won’t be there in 2027 anymore.

It started raining on Saturday night and Sunday’s Warm Up was postponed and eventually cancelled. The main race had the same final: it was first scheduled at 2.00 p.m. (local time, +11 UTC) and then cancelled and replaced by a parade to say thanks. It was a different farewell than everyone expected, but no less emotional to a track where the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team claimed a Sprint podium yesterday with Fabio Di Giannantonio, who was third.

Phillip Island’s track, situated in the South of Australia in one of the most peculiar natural oasis in the world, bids farewell to MotoGP after almost 30 years (the first edition dates back to 1997). The adventure ends in a bittersweet way, without the Sunday’s race, but with a special thanks from all the riders and the paddock people for these years full of show and adrenaline.

Once the Australian GP is over, MotoGP goes to the Sepang International Circuit right away: the Malaysian GP will take place from the 30th October to the 1st November.

FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“I love so much Phillip Island, so I made all the parade lap in tears. It’s always amazing to see all these people, it’s wonderful to see their passion and the full grandstands despite the bad weather. It’s a pity to say goodbye in this way, but safety comes first: until just a moment ago, the track conditions where decent, it’s just so cold and it would have been hard for the tyres, probably. Then, it started raining more heavily again and it would have been tough. It’s a pity, but it was amazing to race here.”

FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“It’s a pity the race was cancelled, because it would have been amazing to race in front of all these fans, who came despite the heavy rain. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t allow to have perfect safety conditions. We are very sorry because we would have loved to say goodbye in a different way. We did the maximum.”