Only two riders get within a second of the #89 as a drying Phillip Island throws up some surprise results on Saturday morning – setting us up for two exciting showdowns.
As qualifying laps go, that was about as good as it gets from Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing). In drying, tricky conditions at Phillip Island, the World Championship leader slung a phenomenal 1:27.296 on the board to claim pole position at the Qatar Airways Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix by a hefty 0.594s. That’s his third pole on the spin Down Under. Not even the might of Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) could get within half a second of his compatriot, and third place Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) acted as the only other rider to set a time that was under a second away. A dominant Saturday morning display on the Island.
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) had to settle for a P5 grid slot for the Tissot Sprint and GP to give Martin’s closest title rival work to do on Saturday and Sunday, while teammate Enea Bastianini is faced with a difficult comeback mission from P10 as he looks to stay in the title fight too.
Q1
Following a Free Practice 2 session that saw the Phillip Island layout spout a drying racing line, the start of Q1 begged the question: slicks or wet tyres? Joan Mir, his Respol Honda teammate Luca Marini and Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) ventured straight out on slicks, with the likes of Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) and home hero Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) opting for Michelin’s rain tyres.
Acosta and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) came straight in to roll the dice on slicks, Miller then did with nine minutes to go, while Bastianini sat patiently in the box to see what unfolded in the tricky conditions. And once Marini beat Johann Zarco’s (CASTROL Honda LCR) wet tyre time with eight minutes to go, the choice was now obvious. Slicks were the way to go, now it was all about who could make them work best.
Acosta sailed to P1 with a 1:31.627 with just over five minutes to go, with Marini occupying P2 just 0.038s back. Acosta’s next lap was a 1:30.853, Marini went 0.239s slower to keep hold of P2, as Bastianini then demoted his compatriot to third after setting an identical time to Acosta. The ‘Beast’ was then shoved back out of the top two by Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing MotoGP™), but the Spaniard didn’t stay there long as Miller pounced to P2.
But with less than a minute left, the Q2 promotion places were changing constantly. Miller’s final time wasn’t enough as Bastianini climbed to P1, and then Acosta was suddenly out! Zarco was now P2 but the Frenchman was demoted by Marini’s P1 effort before Raul Fernandez claimed P1. Now Bastianini was out, but the Italian rescued his qualifying on his final flying lap to crawl back into P2 to see Marini narrowly miss out.
The late flurry meant Acosta ended P5, equalling a P15 starting slot, with Miller a place behind in P16. Crucially, Bastianini was into the pole position shootout.
Q2
That barnstorming 15 minutes set us up nicely for Q2. The first benchmark was set by Martin, a 1:29.931, as Bastianini, Viñales and Bagnaia slotted into the top four before Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) crashed at Turn 1.
Martin, avoiding the yellow flags, then slammed home a 1:28.365 to sit just under three tenths clear of Viñales. The Spaniards then switched places as Viñales became the first rider to dip his toe into the 1:27s with eight minutes left, seeing a 1:27.991 as the new provisional pole position time. Meanwhile, Marc Marquez had climbed to P3, Q1 graduate Raul Fernandez was P4, with Bagnaia 0.906s away from Viñales in P5.
And that’s how it stayed until the final three minutes. On his first effort on fresh rubber, Martin was on a predicted P1 time before the Championship leader saved a front-end slide on the rise towards Lukey Heights, so that lap was scrapped. That moment clearly knocked the #89’s confidence. Not. Martin fired in a quite ridiculous 1:27.296 to go 0.695s clear as Bagnaia had just one lap to improve after his first attack on new tyres went astray.
Pecco was 0.7s away through the third split but lost more time in Sector 4 to move to P5, and that was where the #1 stayed after Fernandez was unable to improve. Marc Marquez landed a late 1:27.890 to grab second, seeing Viñales drop to P3, as the latter duo were the only riders to get remotely close to Martin’s unreal pole-clinching attempt.
THE GRID
Behind Martin, Marc Marquez and Viñales, Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) heads Row 2 ahead of Bagnaia and Raul Fernandez. That’s a top job from the #25 after he was unable to complete Friday afternoon’s Practice due to illness.
Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) is joined on Row 3 by Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) and Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™), with a high-profile fourth row seeing Bastianini joined by Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and 2023 Australian GP podium finisher Di Giannantonio.
That was some pair of qualifying sessions. What twists lie ahead as we begin gearing up for the Tissot Sprint and Sunday’s race? We’re about to find out!
SATURDAY
TISSOT SPRINT: 15:00 (UTC +11)
SUNDAY
GRAND PRIX: 14:00 (UTC +11)
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