Moto2 and Moto3 Qualifying reports/results from Phillip Island

2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round 17 – Phillip Island – Saturday
Qatar Airways Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix
Moto2 and Moto3 Qualifying

Moto2 Qualifying

Bad news broke as riders prepared for Moto2 Q2 with championship challenger Joe Roberts ruled out of the event after breaking his scaphoid in the morning practice session. It is unclear as yet if he will need to undergo surgery and whether he will return to action next weekend in Malaysia.

Ai Ogura had also gone down in the wet Saturday morning practice session, as had Aussie wildcard Harrison Voight, among quite a few others.

Agius had topped that Saturday morning Practice Two session.

Both Aussie entrants had to contest the Q1 session after ranking 15th and 16th on Friday.

Senna Agius went top in Q1 with six-minutes remaining, just as countryman Harrison Voight briefly ran off the circuit while trying to improve his standing from tenth. All riders struggling with the wind today at Phillip Island.

Agius improved further to 1m32.197, only for Dennis Foggia to knock him out of the top spot with a 1m31.792…

Agius returned fire, though, with a 1m31.586, the fastest-ever Moto2 lap of Phillip Island!

Joining Senna Agius and Dennis Foggia in Q2 would be Ayumu Sasaki and Barry Baltus.

Harrison Voight unfortunately did not make the cut but encouragingly did finish ahead of his well credentialled team-mate Jaume Masia.

That new record lap time from Agius was usurped by Fermin Aldeguer in Q2 on his way to pole position, the new benchmark 1m30.876, the first ever 1m30s from a Moto2 machine at Phillip Island.

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Aldeguer taking pole by two-tenths ahead of Aron Canet and Alonso Lopez while Marcos Ramirez made it a Spanish 1-2-3-4 at the top of the time-sheets.

The third consecutive pole position for Aldeguer here at Phillip Island.

A flurry of late fast times from all and sundry in the dying seconds demoted Senna Agius to the fifth row.

Senna Agius – P13

“We did a good job this morning in wet conditions. However, we knew that we had to get into Q1. But this session gave us a bit more track time. I set a very fast lap time in Q1 and felt pretty much on the limit. I was more or less able to repeat this time in Q2, even though I had some traffic on the track. In the end, though, I’m a bit disappointed because we had the first two rows in the bag with two minutes to go. And then I came in and saw that everyone was going fast on the last lap. But I was always on my own, which makes me confident about the pace for tomorrow. Let’s see how we get over the distance, but I’m quite positive.”

Moto2 Qualifying Results

Moto2 Championship Standings

Moto3 Qualifying

Jacob Roulstone was one of the first riders out of pit-lane in what was a blustery Q1 and steadily built up his pace throughout to go top in the dying stages of the session to earn promotion through to Q2.  Also through to Q2 was Adrian Fernandez, David Munoz and Taiyo Furusato.

That time on track in the windy and somewhat sketchy conditions paid good dividends for Roulstone in Q2 as he stayed inside the top ten throughout the majority of the Q2 session.

Countryman Joel Kelso was outside the top ten before heading straight to the top of the charts with just under three-minutes remaining, a 1m36.366 putting the Ginger Ninja into provisional pole.

In the dying seconds of the session though Ivan Ortola, Collin Veijer, Adrian Fernandez, David Munoz, Scott Ogden and Stefano Nepa all demoted Kelso back to seventh.

Similarly, Roulstone was also usurped by a number of riders on their final laps, finishing up in 13th place just ahead of GASGAS team-mate Daniel Holgado.

Jacob Roulstone – P13

“I was super happy about my Q1 after a difficult weekend so far, and some difficult rounds lately, so it gave me a good boost of confidence. I was surprisingly feeling really good on the bike in Q1 in the tricky conditions, so I just continued to improve, to end up with the fastest lap, which is satisfying. It was a bit more difficult in Q2, some chaos as usual, but overall I feel confident heading to tomorrow’s race, and I am super excited to race at home. We’ll have to see what the weather will be like, it can be really windy, so let’s wait and see!”

Roulstone failed to match his 1m36.688 from Q1, finishing Q2 on 1m36.974.

Ivan Ortola’s pole time 1m35.872. The KTM rider’s sixth pole of the season and just outside the all-time Moto3 lap record set by Ayumu Sasaki at 1m35.854 in 2022. Jack Miller holds the current Moto3 race lap record at 1m36.302 but that is certain to be smashed here tomorrow.

Moto3 Qualifying Results

Moto3 Championship Standings