Jorge Martin sets fastest ever lap of P.I. for pole position

MotoGP 2022 – Round 18 – Phillip Island

Phillip Island MotoGP Qualifying Report

If FP3 had been anything to go by we could expect a ripper qualifying shootout this afternoon here at Phillip Island. Marc Marquez had topped that exciting FP3 session with a 1m28.462 but the top 13 riders were all in the 1m28s…

FP4

In the 30-minute FP4 session Maverick Vinales put in a 1m29.089 and then immediately backed it up with a 1m28.976 to top the session.  Johann Zarco had been top for most of the session before being gazumped by the Aprilia man, but Zarco had done all his FP4 laps on the hard rear… 

It also seemed strange that after topping both FP1 and FP2 on Friday, Zarco had just missed out on automatic promotion to Q2 and had to contest Q1 after finishing 11th in FP3.

Q1

Joan Mir was the first rider in the 1m28s in the Q1 session, a 1m28.728. Miguel Oliveira was next in the 28s and was then joined by Zarco, Rins, Bastianini and DiGiannantonio. And we were less than five-minutes into the 15-minute session…

Joan Mir then lowered his early benchmark to 1m28.661 before being bested by Enea Bastianini who put in a 1m28.647. Pol Espargaro had moved up to P3 ahead of Johann Zarco and Remy Gardner.

Zarco then dropped in a 1m28.498 to put himself on top of the time-sheets as we broached the halfway point of the 15-minute session.

On his final run through Joan Mir went back on top with a 1m28.492 only to then be bested by Pol Espargaro with a 1m28.392. Zarco headed back out of pit-lane with three minutes remaining to try and get back inside that top two and earn his spot in Q2.

On his final flying lap Zarco was under Espargaro’s time through both the first and second splits…  Alex Rins was also red through the splits and in the slipstream of Zarco…

The Frenchman does it, and following him across the line to also earn his spot in Q2 thanks to a tow around was Alex Rins, and of course that pushed Pol Espargaro and Joan Mir out of Q2.

Enea Bastianini put a last ditch effort in to earn his promotion but just missed out to finish the session third and thus missed out on Q2 but was baulked on his final flyer by another rider, which left both himself and the team far from happy.

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Q2

With only 15 minutes to decide the first four rows of the grid there is no time to hang about and all the riders were soon on track when pit-lane opened at 1435 this afternoon. And they were certainly not hanging about…

Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin were both in the 1m28.1s on their first flying lap… And there were then red sectors everywhere up and down the timing sheets as everyone else tried to better them…

An early incident for Marc Marquez as he was up by two-tenths through the first split before a big front end lose at turn ten that he miraculously saved, but that was the lap gone and he immediately returned to pit-lane.

At the halfway point of the session Pecco Bagnaia was leading the way on 1m28.054 as all the riders returned to pit-lane for fresh rubber before their final attack…  With seven-minutes remaining it was Bagnaia, Martin, Quartararo, Bezzecchi and Marc Marquez in fifth ahead of Jorge Martin. Three-tenths covered the top eight with Bagnaia’s marker a 1m28.054 and Zarco in eighth on 1m28.356.

With five-minutes left all 12 riders were on track and running soft tyres. Bagnaia immediately had a conga line of riders on his tail, the first of which was Marc Marquez followed by Alex Rins…

Jorge Martin then dropped in the fastest ever motorcycle lap of Phillip Island, a 1m27.767… Aleix Espargaro then joined him in the 27s to go P2…. 90-seconds left to run…

Marquez on the tail of Bagnaia for his penultimate lap… A 1m27.780 for Marquez good enough to go P2, and a 1m27.953 for Bagnaia also put him on the front row. But still it was Martin on pole…

Aleix Espargaro P4 and Fabio Quartararo P5.  Jack Miller finishes the session P8.

Friday pace-setter and the man that has looked fastest all weekend on hard rubber though is Johann Zarco. He might be starting from P6, but if most of the field tomorrow decide to run hard rears, then Zarco might have their measure…

Jorge Martin had never ridden a MotoGP bike around Phillip Island before Friday, and now he is the new lap record holder…

For doing an illegal practice start and being slow on the line in MotoGP Q1, Miguel Oliveira has been given a three-place grid penalty and a Long Lap penalty to be served during the MotoGP race on Sunday.

2022 Phillip Island MotoGP Qualifying Times

2022 Phillip Island MotoGP FP4 Times

MotoGP Championship Points Standings

Phillip Island Moto3 Qualifying Report

John McPhee recovered from what had been some difficult sessions earlier in the weekend to top the Q1 session and earn his promotion through to Q2 along with David Munoz, Carlos Tatay and Taiyo Furusato.

Young Aussie Joel Kelso had finished 13th in practice so had already scored an automatic start in Q2 and with three-minutes remaining in the final qualifying session was holding down fourth place while in the pits ahead of his final run.  Kelso slipped to 14th in the dying seconds of the session and thus will start from the fifth row when the lights go out tomorrow at 1100 AEDT.

Ayumu Sasaki set a new lap record for pole position on his third lap of the sesson and then sat out the rest of the session in the pits. Job done… And he made that 1m35.854 look easy…

Starting from second on the grid will be Sergio Garcia while Ivan Ortolo will round out the front row ahead of Carlos Tatay.

Phillip Island Moto3 Qualifying Times

Moto3 Championship Points Standings

Phillip Island Moto2 Qualifying Times

Moto2 Championship Points Standings

Phillip Island MotoGP Schedule

2022 MotoGP Calendar