New top speed record set at Phillip Island in FP1

MotoGP 2022 – Round 18 – Phillip Island

Phillip Island Friday MotoGP FP1 Report

The track had dried out pretty well ahead of the opening MotoGP practice session this morning at Phillip Island.

Marc Marquez was spectacular as usual, particularly through turn three, and immediately fast out of the box. Marquez was also the first man to dip in the 1m30s, a 1m30.897 in the cool conditions quite early in the session, and that on a track still far from its best due to significant rain yesterday.

Late in the session Marquez also debuted a new rear aero package on the RC213V.  Not only the obvious changes to the tail, but also the front wings are different, and also the scoops/gills on the main side fairing.

A new top speed record was set here this morning thanks to a decent tail-wind blowing down the main straight. Marc Marquez topping that chart at 349.5 km/h.  A speed that Enea Bastianini also matched later in the session. Marquez set his fastest speed while running the earlier aero package.

With four-minutes remaining in the session Jack Miller went out on fresh rubber to go top of the time-sheets with a 1m30.561 to start the weekend in the fashion he hopes to continue throughout the weekend.

Alex Rins and Johann Zarco then followed suit to push Marquez down to fourth place. Miller was still on top, but went quicker again on his penultimate lap of the session, a 1m30.459.

There were then red sectors everywhere as the MotoGP riders let it all hang out to set a fast time just in case we have a wet afternoon and/or Saturday morning.

Miller failed to improve on his final lap, Alex Marquez certainly did though. The LCR Honda went up to P2 before Johann Zarco then crossed the stripe to push Miller down to P2 and Alex Marquez down to P3.  And that is how it ended.

World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo did more laps than anyone in the session but did not put fresh rubber in for a fast late lap, and nor did Marc Marquez for that matter.

While the earlier Moto3 session and MotoGP sessions were relatively incident free, the opening minutes of the Moto2 session were carnage. Moto2 hit the track after the MotoGP session, and plenty of Moto2 riders immediately started hitting the track with their bodies… With riders falling over the place officials put out the red flag to investigate. A harsh wind down near Siberia getting the blame early on combined with zero front end feel. The crashes looked quite bizarre. After a short delay Moto2 riders hit the track again and got back up and running, with less carnage…

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