Blow by blow recap from MotoGP qualifying at Phillip Island

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

MotoGP Qualifying

Marc Marquez topped a wet, then damp, then drying extended 40-minute Saturday morning Practice Two session at Phillip Island.

The Spaniard finished the session almost a second clear of second-placed Maverick Vinales in the sketchy conditions. LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco third in the morning session.

Championship contenders Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia were fourth and eighth respectively.

MotoGP Q1

After a short break, Q1 then got underway on what was a mainly dry track, but with enough wet patches to make things quite precarious, which was further compounded by blustery winds.  Simple then…?

Despite those sketchy conditions, many riders had chosen to start the session on slicks. Others were out on wets early on in the session, which looked like the right choice as Zarco topped the timing monitors on wets until halfway through the session.

Luca Marini had started the session on slicks and slowly built up his confidence before going P1 with just under eight-minutes remaining.

Jack Miller’s progress was interrupted after he struck a bunny that rendered some damage to his RC16 and lost him a lot of time in pit-lane.

Pedro Acosta got wound up and went a full second quicker, only for Marini to hit straight back, the track was now proving quick enough for the brave to dip into the 32s. Acosta returned fire again, a 1m31.627 to go P1 followed by a 1m30.853 to stretch further away from the field.

Enea Bastianini moved up to that so important second place with three-minutes remaining, equalling Acosta’s time but the young Spaniard then upped the stakes further with the first 29 of the day, a 1m29.976, which he immediately backed up with a 1m29.817.

Luca Marini and Johann Zarco third then pushed Acosta outside of the top two!

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Enea Bastianini dropped in a 1m29.728 on his sixth lap to go P1.  Acosta back up to second, Jack Miller recovering from that early incident to go third…

Hold fire!  Raul Fernandez then came from nowhere to drop in a 1m29.397, securing his promotion through to Q2! The Trackhouse Aprilia man was sick as a dog yesterday and did minimal laps but timed his final run to perfection to win out in this first important contest of the day.

Enea Bastianini also through to Q2 while Luca Marini, Johann Zarco, Pedro Acosta and Jack Miller miss out.

Fabio Quartararo failed to really fire in that session and will start the races from 19th place on the grid. Aleix Espargaro faring even worse in P20.

Takaaki Nakagami finished second from last but was then demoted after copping a three-place grid penalty for ignoring the black flag with orange disc, which he was presented with when smoke started emitting from his machine during the session.

MotoGP Phillip Island Q1 Times

MotoGP Phillip Island Q2

Slicks were the order of the day when Q2 got underway at 1115 on Saturday morning, but while most riders had a soft front Jorge Martin was somewhat of an outlier with a hard front and was the first man across the stripe in the session, straight into the 29s, a 1m29.931…

Fabio Di Giannantonio then went down at turn one which briefly saw yellow flags at Southern Loop.

Jorge Martin and Maverick Vinales then in the 28s, Martin 1m28.365 and Vinales on 2m28.656 and both then immediately again lighting up red sectors…

Vinales the quicker next time around, the first 27 of the day, a 1m27.991.

Halfway through the session it was still Vinales from Martin at the end of the first run for all riders. Marc Marquez half-a-second behind in third just ahead of Raul Fernandez and Pecco Bagnaia.

With five-minutes left on the clock riders started rolling out of pit-lane and once again Jorge Martin was one of the first ones out while his primary championship contender Pecco Bagnaia looked in no rush and was biding his time in the pits. However, there seemed to be some problem with the Lenovo Ducati and he was delayed getting out, the #1 not rolling out of the pit exit until there was only just over three-minutes remaining in the session…

Martin improved to 1m28.106 but still trailed Vinales, the front end then went away from Martin as he changed direction at turn nine but he saved it and rolled around to have another crack.

Under at the first split, under again at second, under again at third… The time…. 1m27.296! That front end lose obviously hadn’t dented his confidence…  Only a tiny fraction away from his own all-time lap record set here last year, and on a track that only an hour earlier was soaked!

Vinales still second, but now seven-tenths behind Martin..

Marc Marquez just made it across the stripe before the time ran out, he was nine-tenths from Martin… Slower through first split, quicker at second split, slower at third split…. A 1m27.890 to move up to second place on the grid, but still six-tenths away from Martin.

Vinales completing the front row.

Marco Bezzecchi will head the second row ahead of Pecco Bagnaia and Raul Fernandez.

Franco Morbidelli on row three and will have Alex Marquez and Alex Rins alongside him.

Enea Bastianini tenth ahead of Brad Binder and Fabio Di Giannantonio.

What a performance from Jorge Martin. That was dominance personified. Talk about sending a shot across the bows… The other Ducati riders will be studying Martin’s data to work out just how he did that. Big balls might have a lot to do with it…

Jorge Martin – P1

“Today was a tricky day with this wind also you know it was drying quite fast so we we didn’t know what to expect from the track, but when I went out I saw everything was completely completely dry, maybe some small damp patches, and and also a lot of wind, so yeah, finally I was able to to improve a lot on that second second run and I’m really happy to make another pole position here, it is fantastic, three in a row in MotoGP. For sure races will be tough we have a strong Marc behind me, but I think we are we are the best in terms of pace so let’s go for a for a good one.”

Marc Marquez – P2

“Yeah, already, last year, Jorge was super fast here. He missed the race because the rear tyre choice. But, yeah, yesterday, I say that Martin will be fast because already I see his data, and he was riding in a very good way. So, we are on the target. We are on the front row. We are improving that qualification practice already. In Motegi, it was a good lap. Here was a good lap. So, yeah, keep going and let’s see. We don’t know what we can do on the race because we don’t know the pace, but I believe and I think that Martin will start good and he will be there on the top from the beginning.”

Maverick Vinales – P3

“I think in the second attack I could not make one lap, I get slow riders in front, but I think today I take out the maximum again and this is good because in mixed conditions normally we struggle quite a lot and today the conditions were mixed and we were able to be on the front row so I’m quite happy and optimistic for the race because I think also in terms of rhythm I can do many laps in a row, and we’ll see.

“I think we are well prepared for the sprint, for the long race I don’t know, but yeah we keep going, we know the level, we know our potential, it’s just a matter of this brand (Ducati) is going in another level and we are trying to catch up.”

MotoGP Phillip Island Q2 Times

MotoGP Phillip Island Combined Qualifying

MotoGP Championship Standings