Joey Logano was having a solid day even before his fuel gamble, but it was never supposed to end in victory. Entering the Round of 8, thanks to Alex Bowman’s shocking disqualification the week prior, Logano looked like a real long shot to make the Championship 4. 

But he’s done it — locking himself in before title favorites Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell. Logano credits it as a total team effort. Crew chief Paul Wolfe, spotter Coleman Pressley, engineers Brandon ‘Shaggy’ Pope and Joseph Bisson, even fueler Nick Hensley — he needed all of them to be able to pull this off.

“I don’t think there’s a team out there that works better together than Team Penske,” declared Logano in his winner’s press conference. “That is just in our DNA all the way through. That started years and years and years ago. I can’t even take credit for being part of that.”

What makes it even more impressive is that Logano only has six top-fives this year, and three of those are race wins.

The path to victory

Logano went into Sunday’s race in tenth and steadily moved forward, ending Stage 1 in eighth place, and Stage 2 in fifth. When the pivotal caution flew for a spin by Ty Gibbs with 74 laps remaining, Logano was running eighth for what would be the final restart.

As most of the leaders chose to pit under green for a splash of fuel with about 40 laps left to run, Logano’s team went in a different direction. He was not alone in this decision to try and stretch the field with playoff rival Denny Hamlin right behind him and Daniel Suarez four seconds up the road. Crucially, he was also a full lap ahead of Bell, who led those with fresh tires and a full load of fuel.

With 30 laps to go, a charging Bell was over 20 seconds behind Logano and Suarez, but Logano was quickly slashing away at that margin. He waited patiently, chipping away at Suarez’s lead until he was given the green light to go. With a helpful push from his wounded teammate, Ryan Blaney, Logano began to close rapidly, easily passing Suarez with just six laps left in the race.

It was the first lap Logano had led the entire race. But Bell was still forward and Logano was closing fast. With one more lap, Bell would have likely won the race no matter how much fuel Logano had on board, but the No. 22 team timed it perfectly. Logano crossed the line 0.662s ahead of a shocked Bell, locking himself into the final four.

“I was just focused on the information I was being fed,” explained Logano. “I was going as fast as I felt comfortable going with saving fuel. I knew I couldn’t waste time with Suarez. I knew I had to get by him. Took an extra lap longer than I wanted it to be. Was able to get by him in enough time. Felt like we were in good shape.

“I only knew that because of what Coleman [Pressley, spotter] was telling me up there. He is like, ‘I think we are in good shape. He is not going to catch us if we keep doing what we are doing. As long as you don’t get enough traffic friction by passing cars and not doing it efficiently, you’re going to be able to stay ahead there.’

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Pennzoil Ford Mustang

Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images

“The pace was starting to equal out as tires were wearing after a long run like that. That information made me pretty confident. I know Paul [Wolfe, crew chief] well enough now that when I hear it in his voice, he felt pretty confident we were going to make it on gas.”

Logano has been here before, turning a 2022 win at Vegas into his second NASCAR Cup title. Just like this, he doesn’t have to put any effort whatsoever into the rest of this round with all eyes now on Phoenix. “The next two weeks don’t really matter,” he declared. “It’s the advantage that we earned. We know what that advantage is worth. It’s a worth a lot. Our focus tomorrow morning will be on Phoenix, job to finish.”

Should Logano prevail, he will be the first driver to ever win three titles under this format and just the tenth driver in history to ever win three or more. 

Just 10 points separate Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia heading into the Australia-Thailand-Malaysia triple header.

Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez are now virtually out of the title fight, but are involved in their own duel for third place in the standings.

Event	Date
	10:45
Australian GP FREE PRACTICE 1
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Australian GP FREE PRACTICE 2
Australian GP QUALIFYING 1
Australian GP QUALIFYING 2
Australian GP SPRINT Advertisement
Australian GP Warm Up
Australian GP Race

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in different timezones

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in the UK and Portugal

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 00:45 – 01:30 BST
• Free Practice 2: 07:00 – 08:00 BST

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 00:10 – 00:40 BST
• Qualifying: 00:50 – 01:30 BST
• Sprint: 05:00 BST
• Warm up: 23:40 – 23:50 BST

Sunday 20th October 2024

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in Europe 

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 01:45 – 02:30 CEST
• Free Practice 2: 06:00 – 07:00 CEST

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 01:10 – 01:40 CEST
• Qualifying: 01:50 – 02:30 CEST
• Sprint: 06:00 CEST

Sunday 20th October 2024

• Warm up: 00:40 – 00:50 CEST
• Race: 05:00 CEST

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in the US (Eastern Time)

Thursday 17th October 2024

• Free Practice 1:  19:45 – 20:30 ET

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 2:  00:00 – 01:00 ET 
• Free Practice 3: 19:10 – 19:40 ET 
• Qualifying: 19:50 – 20:30 ET 

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Sprint: 00:00 ET 
• Warm-up: 18:40 – 18:50 ET
• Race:  23:00 ET 

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in the US (Pacific Time)

Thursday 17th October 2024

• Free Practice 1:  16:45 – 17:30 PT
• Free Practice 2:  21:00 – 22:00 PT

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 16:10 – 16:40 PT
• Qualifying:  16:50 – 17:30 PT
• Sprint: 21:00 PT

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Warm-up: 15:40 – 15:50 PT
• Race:  20:00 PT

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in Australia

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 10:45 – 11:30 AEDT
• Free Practice 2: 15:00 – 16:00 AEDT

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 10:10 – 10:40 AEDT
• Qualifying: 10:50 – 11:30 AEDT
• Sprint: 15:00 AEDT

Sunday 20th October 2024

• Warm-up: 09:40 – 09:50 AEDT
• Race: 14:00 AEDT

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in Japan

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 08:45 – 09:30 JST 
• Free Practice 2: 13:00 – 14:00 JST 

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 08:10 – 08:40 JST 
• Qualifying: 08:50 – 09:30 JST
• Sprint: 13:00 JST

Sunday 20th October 2024

• Warm-up: 07:40 – 07:50 JST
• Race: 12:00 JST

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in India

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 05:15 – 06:00 IST 
• Free Practice 2: 09:30 – 10:30 IST

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 04:40 – 05:10 IST 
• Qualifying: 05:20 – 06:00 IST
• Sprint: 09:30 IST

Sunday 20th October 2024

• Warm-up: 04:10 – 04:20 IST
• Race: 08:30 IST

Can’t find your country or region in the list? Check the MotoGP schedule page for the broadcast times in your local timezone.

Can I stream the Australian Grand Prix?

MotoGP has its own on-demand streaming service, offering live broadcast of practice, qualifying and the Sprint, as well as highlights. The MotoGP Video pass is available for an annual fee of 139.99 euros. Several local broadcasters also stream MotoGP races on their official websites

“You’ve got to be f****** kidding me,” Christopher Bell radioed in anger as he crossed the finish line at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After leading 155 of 267 laps, he finished second — just 0.662s shy of winning the race and an automatically advancing into the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4.

But there’s nothing the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota did wrong. He never made a mistake. His pit stops were fast and he maintained an advantage over William Byron and Alex Bowman through the final cycle of green-flag stops. But that didn’t stop Joey Logano from stretching the fuel and stealing the win out from under him anyway.

“I don’t know, and I don’t think I’ve come to terms with it yet,” said Bell in his immediate post-race reaction.

“Just a bummer. Everyone on this team did everything perfect today. This thing was obviously on rails, the pit crew did an amazing job, Adam (Stevens, crew chief) called an amazing race. We did everything we needed to put the Camry into victory lane, and unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be today.”

While the way he lost may be different, this isn’t exactly a new feeling for Bell leaving the Round of 8 playoff race at Vegas. He started from pole in Sunday’s event and led the most laps. Last year was a similar story, starting from pole and remaining in contention for most of the day. In the final moments, he ran down Kyle Larson and was literally touching his back bumper as they took the checkered flag, losing by 0.082s. Back then, he said it felt like he missed out on the ‘golden ticket’, which likely aligns with his feelings after Logano’s victory last weekend. 

Kyle Larson being chased by Christopher Bell in the run to the finish line in 2023.

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

But in 2023, Bell did not crumble after such a agonizing loss. No, he stepped up and won the very next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. As he aims to make the Championship 4 for the third consecutive year, could we see history repeat itself yet again at Homestead?

“It is a whole new race next week,” said Bell. Despite last year’s success, he was hesitant to say that things will go the same way they did one year ago. “This track means nothing for next week, and fortunately, we were able to go and win in Homestead last year, but nothing is guaranteed. Just because I ran second this week, doesn’t mean I’m going to finish anywhere next week. I think the points look pretty good, which is a positive, but you are never safe in this deal. We needed to win today, and unfortunately, we didn’t. We will go on to the next one.”

The good news for Bell is that he has more points than any of the seven playoff drivers not yet locked in after Vegas, holding a 42-point buffer. But as we’ve seen in recent years with this round, a win from the very capable drivers below the cut-line can and will erase that deficit. The NASCAR playoffs are all about the ‘win and you’re in’ system, and it’s never more important than it is in this round — even more so than the finale.

Lando Norris labelled his United States Grand Prix weekend a “momentum killer” for his Formula 1 title hopes after losing ground to Max Verstappen.

The McLaren driver had gone into the Austin event 52 points behind his Red Bull rival and well aware that, with time running out, he needed to start cutting the deficit dramatically.

But rather than continuing to close down the margin, Norris actually lost five more points after being classified behind Verstappen in both the sprint and the grand prix.

His efforts on Sunday though were not helped by a controversial five-second penalty for overtaking off the track that dropped him from third on the road ahead of Verstappen to behind his rival.

Asked how much the weekend had impacted his title prospect, Norris said: “I mean, quite a bit. It’s a momentum killer.

“But we came in here with our mind open, not expecting to dominate or just win or anything. The fact that Ferrari was so quick showed they’re just as competitive.

“Even if I had come around Turn 1 in first, I would never have finished first or second and only could have finished third.

“The one guy I needed to beat was Max, and that’s the guy I didn’t beat. So, it was an unsuccessful weekend all in all.

“But we gave it a good shot. I tried. It wasn’t good enough, and we have work to do, and I’ve work to do on myself.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

While McLaren’s form in the United States was not as good as it has been in recent race weekends, team boss Andrea Stella said he was not surprised that things were more difficult this time out.

He said that the contrast in pace, between dominating in Singapore in the last race and being on the back foot a little in Austin, was down to track characteristics.

“Compared to Singapore here, there’s quite a lot more low-speed braking into low-speed corners, plus wind, and we know that in these conditions, not necessarily our car performs at the best.

“It is not as good as in some medium speed corners, low wind conditions, which we had in Singapore, we had in Zandvoort, and we had in Hungary.

“We know that these three venues that I’ve just mentioned do suit our car, but here I would have expected this event to be the most difficult of the remaining six events.”

Stella also thinks it important to understand that Ferrari’s dominant form in Austin was not a big shock, because analysis of recent races shows that perhaps the Italian squad had not maximised its chances before.

“They have been quick over the previous races pretty consistently,” he added. “If anything, they have not been capable of maximising their potential.

“In Baku, Leclerc, in fairness, was definitely in condition to win the race. In Singapore, we were expecting Leclerc to be competitive for pole position and the same in the race. So, we are not surprised that Ferrari is so close.

“I think the next circuits should be more suitable to the characteristics of our car. We also have to keep developing the car.

“Here, we took some developments to the front of the car, but they were nothing too large in terms of potential lap time impact. We have a couple more things that are coming in the next two races, and we will see if we are in a condition to alter the competitiveness of the car.”

Additional reporting by Alex Kalinauckas