Phillip Island Race Day Guide
Miller fourth in morning warm-up – Broc Parkes 22nd
Gardner 24th in Moto2 warm-up
Tom Toparis 29th in Moto3 warm-up
Phillip Island has retained the wet weather conditions heading into Sunday’s racing, with Moto3 and Moto2 looking to be raced on a wet track. The MotoGP race is looking to be held in drying conditions however, with strong attendance figures despite the conditions.
With Saturday boasting over 27,000 in attendance, this weekend’s racing is looking to boast the highest figures since Casey Stoner’s last appearance at Phillip Island in 2012, in his final year of competition.
KTM also heads into the race looking strong, having taken their best ever qualifying result in the class, with Pol Espargaro sixth on the grid, on the second row. Both KTMs headed the top speed charts in final qualifying with 340 and 338kph (211 and 210mph) respectively.
Pol Espargaro
“Awesome! It has been the best two days here and arguably some of the best two days of the season. We were in the top ten through every free practice and for two of them inside the top five so it was a huge boost of confidence. I was enjoying riding the bike as it felt natural, pure and good especially on this track even with the wind that can make changing direction a little tricky. All this stuff makes it incredibly difficult but the bike has taken it brilliantly, plus I’m happy with my riding too. We are all doing a good job in the team; all the guys in the factory are developing a good bike so we should all feel proud of today as we can see the results of last month’s Aragon test here today.”
See below for the full run-down.
MotoGP
Marc Marquez starts from pole for the fourth successive year in Australia. From his previous three MotoGP poles at Phillip Island he has had one win in 2015 and he has crashed out twice when leading the race.
In second place on the grid is Maverick Viñales, who finished third in Australia last year from 13th place on the grid. This is the first time Vinales has qualified on the front row in Phillip Island.
Johann Zarco starts from the front row for the fourth time in his rookie season, and his third position equals his best dry weather qualifying result that he had at the French Grand Prix. Phillip Island is one of just two current tracks where Zarco did not have a podium finish in the Moto2 class. The other one is Qatar.
Heading the second row is Andrea Iannone, which is his best qualifying result since the opening race of the year in Qatar when he qualified in second place on the grid. Iannone finished third on his last appearance in Phillip Island in 2015, having missed last season through injury.
Jack Miller is in fifth place on the grid, which equals his best ever grid position in the MotoGP class that he achieved last year at this circuit.
Pol Espargaro takes the final place on the second row, which is the best qualifying result so far for KTM in their first year in the MotoGP class. Espargaro has twice won at Phillip Island in the Moto2 class and finished fifth here last year, which was his equal best dry weather result of 2016.
Starting from the head of the third row is Valentino Rossi, who has finished on the podium in the premier-class at Phillip Island on 14 occasions, Six of those top three finishes have been achieved after qualifying outside of the top six places on the grid.
Aleix Espargaro is in eighth place on the grid, which is the fifth successive race he has qualified on one of the front three rows.
Bradley Smith starts from ninth place on the grid, which makes it two KTM riders on the front three rows. This is the best dry weather qualifying result for Smith since he was eighth on the grid in Mugello last year.
Cal Crutchlow, who won the race in Phillip Island last year, has qualified in tenth place on the grid.
Andrea Dovizioso is the highest placed Ducati rider on the grid in 11th place, which is his worst qualifying since Jerez when he was in 14th place on the grid.
Aussie Broc Parkes (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) finished the mornings warm up in 22nd position.
This is the first time since the Australian Grand Prix in 2006 that no Ducati rider has qualified in the top 10 places on the grid.
Moto2
Mattia Pasini is on pole position for the fifth time this season, equalling Andrea Iannone and Franco Morbidelli’s pole tally in the Moto2 class. He has never scored a point at Phillip Island in the intermediate category.
Marcel Schrotter has qualified in second, which is the best qualifying result of his career so far. This is the best qualifying result for a Suter since 2014.
Miguel Oliveira, who missed the Australian Grand Prix last year due to injury, is third on the grid for
his fourth front row start this season. He won the Moto3™ race on this track in 2015.
Brad Binder’s fourth place on the grid is his best qualifying result of his rookie season.
World Championship leader Franco Morbidelli has qualified in fifth. It is the third successive race he has missed the front row. He crossed the line in second last year from ninth on the grid.
Álex Márquez has qualified in sixth, which is his worst qualifying result since he was also sixth in Brno earlier this year.
Tom Lüthi, who won the race from Franco Morbidelli last year, has qualified in 10th. He is the only rider currently competing in Moto2 who has won in the class at Phillip Island.
Aussie Remy Gardner was 24th in the morning’s warm-up in wet conditions.
Moto3
Jorge Martín will start from pole position for the eighth time this season, which equals the record of Jack Miller (2014) and Álex Rins (2013) since the introduction of the Moto3™ class back in 2012. He will be aiming to win his first race in what will be his 48th Grand Prix start.
Gabriel Rodrigo has qualified in second place on the grid, which is his fifth front row start of his career. He will be aiming to stand on the podium for the first time.
World Championship leader Joan Mir has qualified in third, which is his sixth front row start of the season. As in Japan last weekend, if he finishes first or second, he will be World Champion irrespective of where closes rival Romano Fenati finishes. On his two appearances in Phillip Island, Mir has failed to score points.
Heading the second row is Juanfran Guevara, which is his best qualifying result since he qualified in second in Red Bull Ring in August.
Japanese Grand Prix winner Romano Fenati has qualified in fifth on the grid. He has never finished better than sixth on his four Grand Prix races at Phillip Island.
Jules Danilo will complete the second row on the grid in sixth, which equals the best qualifying result of his career from Le Mans in 2015.
Manuel Pagliani has qualified in seventh, which is best qualifying result of his rookie season. He’s also the top Mahindra qualifier.
Arón Canet has qualified in eighth on the grid. He is the only rider of the current grid who has stood on the podium at this track, which was also the first podium of his career one year ago.
Australian Tom Toparis finished the Warm Up classification in 29th, in the wet.
