Jorge Martin smashed his own MotoGP lap record to secure Australian GP pole from Brad Binder and Francesco Bagnaia.
Q1:
The first part in MotoGP qualifying in Australian GP saw LCR Honda’s Alex Rins pull out due to pain in his recovering legs. The first run saw GASGAS Tech 3’s Augusto Fernandez lead with way with a 1m28.435s lap ahead of Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.
Behind him, Honda’s Marc Marquez was close behind with RNF Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez was fourth and Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez in fifth. The second run saw Bagnaia improve further despite traffic to make it in Q2 with a 1m28.160s lap.
Marquez pipped Fernandez after spending the whole lap behind him to make it in Q2 in second as A Marquez improved to third to start 13th and drop Fernandez to 14th. The Tech 3 rider has a 3-place grid penalty for practice impeding.
R Fernandez was 15th from Honda’s Joan Mir and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo as the trio will gain a place for the main race. VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini was only 18th from RNF’s Miguel Oliveira, Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli and LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami.
Q2:
The second part in MotoGP qualifying in Australian GP saw Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin set the pace early on with a 1m27.846s lap to lead the way from KTM’s Brad Binder as Ducati’s Bagnaia came through Q1 to third on his first run.
The other Pramac of Johann Zarco did well in fourth from Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro in the Top 5. The final run saw a smashing lap from Martin to secure Australian GP pole after a 1m27.246s lap which broke his own MotoGP lap record at Phillip Island.
Binder could only manage a distant second after a 0.416s lap as Bagnaia ended up third in a salvage job with Espargaro in fourth from Zarco. Gresini’s Fabio di Giannantonio was sixth from Marquez who ran behind Bagnaia to get a tow from the Ducati.
KTM’s Jack Miller was eighth ahead of Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales after his late lap which dropped VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi to 10th ahead of Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro and Ducati’s Enea Bastianini to round out the Top 12 runners.
Results: https://x.com/MotoGP/status/1715529575562715407?s=20
