Marc Marquez overcame a poor start and hunted down world championship leader Jorge Martin to win the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix for the fourth time, the six-time MotoGP world champion taking his third victory of the season at Phillip Island on Sunday afternoon.

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The Gresini Ducati rider, from second on the grid, spun his rear tyre off the line and dropped to 13th by the first corner, but scythed back through the pack to turn the 27-lap race into a head-to-head fight with Martin, Marquez taking the lead for good with three laps remaining and scampering away to win by 0.997secs.

Martin, who started from pole and won Saturday’s 13-lap sprint race, extended his series lead over reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia to 20 points after Bagnaia finished third, 10.100secs behind Marquez after briefly taking the lead just before half-distance.

Australia’s Jack Miller, who started from a Phillip Island-worst 16th after hitting a hare that ran across the track during qualifying and crashed from Saturday’s sprint after a coming-together with a seagull that smashed the front fairing of his KTM, finished in 11th place, 19.932secs behind Marquez.

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Marquez smoked his rear tyre off the line after spinning on a helmet visor tear-off he’d discarded before the race start, entering the first corner in 13th from second on the grid. The 31-year-old unleashed a fearsome pace to spark his comeback, breaking his own 11-year-old lap record as he rose to third on lap seven, and the second half of the race became a battle in two with Martin as Bagnaia, who briefly led on lap 12, fell out of victory contention.

“I never pull the [visor] tear-off at the start because for the start it’s dangerous, but this time when I was [engaging] the front start device there was something big [on the visor] and I take [the tear-off] off, and I saw it under my wheel,” Marquez said.

“I saw it and it was impossible to take from under my wheel, and when I released the clutch I start to spin. I don’t know where I was at the first corner, but I overtook many riders.

“I thought at one time it was impossible to catch Martin, but in lap five, six, I start to get the rhythm. It’s true that Martin pushed all the race, but I was saving the tyre for the last attack.”

With five laps to go, Marquez drew to within two-tenths of a second of Martin and surprised his Spanish compatriot with a pass at turn five, Martin returning the favour at the first turn on lap 25.

Marquez then repassed Martin at the turn four hairpin and escaped for good, his victory in Australia in his first season riding for Ducati the 62nd in his MotoGP career, and fourth at Phillip Island to go with his wins in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

Martin failed to convert pole to victory for the third year in a row in Australia, the world championship leader finishing seventh in 2022 and fifth last year after leading for 26 of 27 laps, while Bagnaia’s third consecutive podium in Australia limited the damage to Martin in the standings on a weekend when he was largely off Martin’s front-running pace.

Round 17 of the 20-event season takes place in Buriram for the Thailand Grand Prix next weekend.