Bad weather brings Phillip Island to a standstill – the rescue helicopter cannot fly – after hours of waiting, the race is cancelled in its entirety
The MotoGP race in Australia had to be cancelled in its entirety after a long wait. The weather forecast for the Phillip Island weekend proved accurate. Friday’s practice session initially went smoothly in sunny conditions.
Rain had been forecast for Saturday and Sunday. Indeed, the MotoGP qualifying session on Saturday morning took place in significantly cooler conditions on a wet track.
Marc Marquez (Ducati) outclassed the competition in qualifying and secured pole position with a 1.5-second lead. The sprint race took place on Saturday afternoon on a dry track.
Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin (Aprilia) were locked in a duel until Martin crashed. In the process, he sustained a fracture of a radius bone near his right wrist. However, he will not require surgery and will not be returning to Europe.
The worst weather was forecast for Sunday, which is exactly what happened. It had been raining since the morning. The main problem, however, was visibility. This was not limited to Phillip Island.
The weather was also poor in Melbourne. Due to these circumstances, the rescue helicopter was unable to take off. For safety reasons, it was therefore impossible to give the track the all-clear.
The journey by road between Phillip Island and Melbourne takes around two hours. As the designated trauma centre is located in Melbourne, it was essential that the rescue helicopter was operational.
This was also confirmed by Race Director Graham Webber to MotoGP.com: “The weather is bad both in Melbourne and here, which is why we basically need the green light in two places.”
“The helicopter therefore needs a time window of around 60 minutes at both locations – Phillip Island and Melbourne – for us to be able to start the race. It’s simply a matter of safety.”
“We have to ensure that we’re covered in the event of an emergency and can get a rider to hospital quickly. At some circuits, we can generally fall back on land transport, i.e. use an ambulance.”
“However, as the journey time to the hospital here exceeds the 45 minutes stipulated in the regulations, we are absolutely reliant on this helicopter. That’s why the weather really does have our hands tied.”
Just a parade lap instead of the MotoGP race
That’s why race control waited to see how things developed. Initially, the MotoGP warm-up was postponed and eventually cancelled altogether. Then it was announced that the MotoGP race would take priority over the two smaller classes.
Finally, the Moto3 race was cancelled and the plan was to start the MotoGP race at 3.00 pm local time (5.00 am CET) and the Moto2 race at 5.00 pm local time (7.00 am CET).
In the next update, the Moto2 race was also cancelled, and the plan was to open the pit lane for preparations for the MotoGP race at 4.00 pm local time (6.00 am CET), with the race scheduled to start at 4.30 pm (6.30 am CET).
😎 @jackmilleraus ends his final lap around Phillip Island on a #MotoGP bike with a MASSIVE WHEELIE
#AustralianGP 🇦🇺 https://t.co/uMkYWl1Nze
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) 25 October 2026
In the end, the race could not get underway. For the many fans who had braved the adverse weather, the MotoGP riders completed two laps behind the safety car at 3.45 pm local time and stopped on the home straight to wave to the fans.
Back in 2023, the weather had already forced a change to the schedule. On that occasion, the MotoGP race was held on Saturday afternoon in place of the sprint.
The sprint was consequently postponed to Sunday. As it was extremely windy at the time, only the Moto3 and Moto2 races took place, and the MotoGP sprint was subsequently cancelled.
As the MotoGP race has now had to be cancelled, Marc Márquez leads the World Championship standings by ten points ahead of Martin, thanks to his sprint victory on Saturday. Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) is third, 50 World Championship points behind.
This brought the era at the historic Phillip Island circuit to an end without a final Grand Prix: From next year, the race will move to Adelaide.
Next weekend, the Malaysian Grand Prix will take place at the Sepang International Circuit.