MotoGP riders reflect on opening day of practice at Phillip Island

2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round 17 – Phillip Island – Friday
Qatar Airways Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix
MotoGP Friday Quotes

Marc Marquez – P1

“I always adapt quickly to track conditions, but surely the others will improve their performance tomorrow and we’ll all be very close. Qualifying will tell a lot about the possible sprint race goals. Alex was incredibly quick and without his mistake on the last lap he would have been ahead of me. It wasn’t an easy day as we needed to attack in each lap, plus the new asphalt is always a factor especially on Friday.”

Alex Marquez – P2

“It was probably one of my best-ever laps. I made the most of Marc’s reference ahead of me in the first two sectors, then I put in some extra of my own. The feeling with the bike was there and so was the one with the circuit, which works well for the remainder of the weekend. I don’t know why things seem to be better with anticlockwise circuits this year, but it’s a good thing nevertheless. Obviously, Sunday’s penalty will have its impact, especially considering the good feeling, but we’ll deal with it.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P3

“It went really well today, I’m happy, the best Friday of the year together with Jerez and Le Mans. At the beginning of the session it was a real mess: we all started immediately in time attack mode because the sky was uncertain. I pushed, but at the beginning it wasn’t easy because the bike, turned really well, but it wasn’t stable. With the soft used at the rear I felt better, but even with the medium I didn’t have a bad experience. I’m happy, let’s continue like this, tomorrow the weather should be better.”

Pecco Bagnaia – P5

“It was a challenging day. We knew, even before we got to the circuit, that it would have been unlikely for us to be able to ride in the morning. In the afternoon session, we switched to the second bike as I didn’t have the right feeling with the first one. From then on, we kept improving and it was easy to pinpoint the set-up adjustments we needed, so much so that I felt good with both used and fresh tyres. The goal was to finish in the top ten and we were lucky that we could complete a time attack before the yellow flags came out, but we had the potential to finish in the top two – something which will be useful tomorrow.”

Maverick Vinales – P6

“I managed to push the bike to its limits after 10 laps, which has given us a big advantage going into Q2. The grip was good, but the bike was moving about a lot, particularly when changing direction – probably as a result of the grip being too firm. I feel in good shape for the race, in terms of pace too.”

Fabio DiGiannantonio – P8

“This track is truly spectacular, fantastic, even if at times scary, in the sense that some points are truly breathtaking. I enjoyed the afternoon session, we were fast, to tell the truth we all started off like crazy because there were a lot of dark clouds. A very good balance, the feelings are very good in view of the GP, it’s just a shame about the yellow flag at the end. Maybe I could have improved more in terms of lap time.”

Alex Rins – P10

“It was a good day for me. It was stressful, though! We waited in the box for a long time this morning: one minute we’re about to head out on track and the next we’re not. But we made it during this Practice session. The track looks quite good, but a bit bumpy here and there. But I’m in Q2, and I’m super happy about this. I put a lot of effort into it, and it’s so important. We have the chance to start more towards the front, and the first laps of the Sprint and Race are quite critical. So, yes, overall it was a good day.”

Fabio Quartararo – P11

“It was a more than tricky Practice session. At this track, you need a lot of laps to really find the limit. We could have used some more laps to get to the 100%, but we were really close to Q2 in the end, and I felt quite good. I’m feeling better than two weeks ago in Japan, but we need to improve in the last sector here and especially in the last corner. Let’s see what happens tomorrow. If it doesn’t rain, we can maybe have some more grip from the tarmac, which can help. I think we have the possibility to go into Q2 tomorrow.”

Jack Miller – P12

“It wasn’t the Friday we hoped for! Got on track for FP2 but couldn’t piece together a clean lap after a couple of mistakes. The bike felt pretty solid though. Always a blast ripping laps around the Island, the new asphalt has heaps of grip but still has some bumps. All in all, it was pretty fun!”

Peter Acosta – P13

“Not being in Q2 was not the target for sure, but considering the cancellation of FP1 – which I normally use to get the first impressions on the MotoGP, and decide which improvements need to be done ahead of Practice – the day was good overall because we managed to have a good pace. We have FP2 in the morning to make the final adjustments and correct the mistakes, but I am calm and I think that we can be competitive on Saturday.”

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Johann Zarco – P14

“Despite missing out on Q2, I was pleasantly surprised by my performance today. I was able to maintain a good pace and control my lap times, all while enjoying riding the bike. If the conditions are dry for the Sprint tomorrow, we have a good chance of scoring points, which is a positive outcome. We’re still working on our acceleration, but our focus is on maximizing our current capabilities and delivering the best performance we can.”

Augusto Fernandez – P15

“It was a stressful session because we were constantly trying to improve the lap times in case the expected rain came, while trying to work on both the bike and the feeling. In the end, there was no rain, so it was like a normal session, with the time-attacks in the end. Honestly, I felt quite good, and we finished 0.2 seconds from the top 10, which is a really positive point for us considering where we are coming from. The feeling is good, of course we have some improvements to make, but I feel positive about this first day in Australia. Let’s keep with the work, and see what we can do in qualifying.”

Enea Bastianini – P16

“The feeling at the beginning was not ideal as the bike was moving at the rear and obviously that also affected the front-end behaviour. We managed to address the issue in time for the final part of the session and I was feeling better, but unfortunately in the last two laps, with fresh tyres, there were a couple of yellow flag situations, and I ended up getting the checked flag for only two seconds. We’ll keep working in order to improve some more tomorrow: we’ll try to be quick from the get-go in free practice before doing our best in qualifying as well as in the race.”

Joan Mir – P17

“Today was a day with a lot of potential because I am feeling quite good here. It is quite normal that the weather can have some impact here, so you always have to be ready and as a team we were able to adjust our plan and handle it well. On the new tire when it was time to push for a fast time at the end of the session, we were missing a little something, a few tenths that could have helped us a lot. It’s an area we need to keep working on and already we have a few ideas for Qualifying tomorrow, the objective is to get the best possible grid position because our overall rhythm is strong.”

Aleix Espargaro – P18

“On the last time-attack attempt, I was starting to get faster, but then unfortunately I was met with two yellow flags. The bike was feeling pretty good, it was me who got off to a bit of a slow start. I’m looking forward to Saturday to be able to improve, and I’m hoping for more stable conditions.”

Luca Marini – P19

“In the end we were able to enjoy riding, which is important. The new surface has changed the feeling a little bit so it was good to get some dry time. We need to keep working on the bike to improve the performance, but even like this we are very close. Pity the last few laps when we were pushing to improve our time with the yellow flags, it hides our potential. I am aiming to make a step with the setting and my riding because I think there’s a lot of margin there. We keep working and improving.”

Lorenzo Savadori – P21

“I am OK but, of course, feeling very sorry for the team because of the crash. The bike is more or less OK as well which is positive. In general, during all the session, we struggled a bit in the fast corners and we had a lot of instability. I crashed for this reason when I went out with low fuel and new soft rear tire – I followed Brad Binder into the corner to learn the line, but I had a lot of instability, lost it and crashed. We need to resolve that but, overall, it was a positive day for me – we didn’t ride in the first session because of the heavy rain and it got canceled but, when I entered the track for the first time in Practice, I felt immediately good. This is positive, the bike works in a good way; for example, in the third sector, there is a fast corner and the bike works really good there. Also, for tomorrow and the day after we will continue to work for 2025.”

Team Managers

Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director

“After missing out on 45 minutes of crucial FP1 time, we knew there was work to do for us this afternoon and that the time attack in the Practice would get very tight. We tried to utilize the available dry track time the best we could to get ready for a very intense Practice shoot-out. In the end, there’s not a lot between Álex’ and Fabio’s time, just 0.015s, but it was the difference between a direct spot in Q2 and having to take part in Q1. But we feel that Fabio is in with a chance tomorrow in Q1. Knowing that we need to improve in Sector 4 the most, we will study today’s data and try to get as close to the limit as possible. We just hope for dry conditions tomorrow so we can put in an effort to get the best grid positions possible in qualifying, and also for the fans at the track so they can enjoy a full day of track action.”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Trackhouse Team Manager

“That was not the best day to start off in Phillip Island. First of all, we lost FP1 – canceled because of the rain and the water lying on track. The second session was dry but then Raul didn’t feel well. He managed to do a few laps, but he didn’t sleep very good last night, so he decided to stop and get himself checked to find out what is going on. Lorenzo did some good laps and was trying to improve his lap time with a new tire towards the end of the session, but he crashed in turn one, which is fast and obviously not the best corner to go down. But looking at the damage, it’s not too bad and importantly, he has no injuries. The bike seems to have suffered mainly a fairing that is broken. Hopefully tomorrow we can go a lot better.”

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