Zarco tops both Friday sessions at Phillip Island MotoGP

MotoGP 2022 – Round 18 – Phillip Island

Phillip Island Friday MotoGP Report

The skies were mainly clear when the second MotoGP practice session got underway on schedule at 1410 this afternoon here at Phillip Island.

It took only nine-minutes of FP2 for Marc Marquez to lower Zarco’s morning benchmark, a 1m30.126.

Vinales was also right on it straight from the off, moving up to P2 on combined times early on to push Zarco back to P3.

Fabio Quartararo then got wound up to move up to P3 on combined times, pushing Zarco back to P4 and Miller P5. 

Pecco Bagnaia was having a few troubles braking for turn four, running up the slip road a couple of times. 

The track kept getting better as the session wore on and by the halfway point of the 45-minute session the top 16 were all in the 1m30s. 

Edge grip still looked far from perfect though, riders were having little front end nibbles at various points around the circuit, and were having to hold back a little on the corner exits. 

Ten minutes to go…

With ten minutes to run things started to get a little more serious.  Marc Marquez had been putting in a fairly long run but was called into the pits with eight-minutes left on the shot clock. He was not on his Pat Malone, as at this stage of proceedings almost every single rider was in the pits swapping in some softer rubber for a late time attack.   

The forecast for FP3 on Saturday morning is for fine but cool weather, thus this afternoon could prove vital in regards to making it straight through to Q2 on Saturday afternoon, if conditions are not favourable tomorrow morning.

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With five-minutes left in the session every rider was on an out-lap and setting up to bank in a fast lap time.

Bezzecchi first into the 1m29s…

Marco Bezzecchi first in the 1m29s but only seconds later Maverick Vinales went P1 on the back of a 1m29.745.  Pol Espargaro then in the 29s also to go through P3. 

Fabio Quartararo then went to the top of the charts with just over two-minutes remaining, a 1m29.614 the time to beat.

Red sectors everywhere again…

Marco Bezzecchi goes top again, a 1m29.513 pushing Quartararo back to P2.  Zarco then bested them all once again, a 1m29.475 to go P1.  Pol Espargaro then went up to P3 which relegated Quartararo to P4 and Vinales to P5.

Marc Marquez crossed the stripe with two-seconds remaining in the session to go P6, but he still had one more chance. He failed to improve though. 

A disappointing day for Jack Miller, he did go out on softs but something must have held him back and he finished the opening day in P13. He will be hoping for fine conditions tomorrow morning if he is to make it through to Q2 without having to also contest Q1.

The wind was blowing across the circuit quite hard and causing the riders plenty of problems 

The fastest ever lap of Phillip Island by a motorcycle was recorded by Jorge Lorenzo on a Yamaha way back in 2013, his 1m27.899 for pole position remains the outright benchmark. The fastest race lap was also set that year on what was then a freshly resurfaced track. Marc Marquez the holder of the race lap record at 1m28.108. 

2022 Phillip Island MotoGP Combined Friday Practice Results

MotoGP Championship Points Standings

Phillip Island Moto2 Friday Practice Report

Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) dominated Friday in Australia, pulling out nearly four tenths ahead of Fermin Aldeguer (Beta Tools SpeedUp) and Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools SpeedUp), with the Boscoscuro duo completing the top three. Lopez, however, was also given a Long Lap for the race after causing a crash in FP1 with Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team).

Championship leader Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) topped FP1, and he ends the day in P7 overall – with key rival Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) struggling to P17 on Friday.

Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) was fourth quickest, ahead of a fast Friday for Sam Lowe (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) as the Brit continues his comeback from injury. Aron Canet (Flexbox HP 40) slots into sixth ahead of Fernandez. Buriram podium finisher Filip Salač (Gresini Racing Moto2™) was eighth, with Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and Albert Arenas (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) completing the top ten, the former despite a crash in FP2, rider ok.

2022 Phillip Island Moto2 Friday Free Practice Results

Phillip Island Moto3 Friday Practice Report

The track was mainly dry for the Moto3 session and the riders were soon lapping around three-seconds off the 1m36.302 race lap record set here by Jack Miller on what was a newly resurfaced track back in 2014. 

Husqvarna’s Ayumu Sasaki finished the session as the Friday benchmark after a late 1m37.797 pushed him ahead of his Leopard Honda countryman Tatsuki Suzuki who was the only other rider in the 37s. 

Joel Kelso was P2 for the majority of the session but was shuffled all the way back to P12 by the end of the session. 

2022 Phillip Island Moto3 Friday Free Practice Results

Moto3 Championship Points Standings

Phillip Island MotoGP Schedule

2022 MotoGP Calendar