MotoGP Australian GP: Marquez takes pole in wet qualifying despite crash

Ducati’s Marc Marquez bounced back from an early crash to claim pole position at the Australian Grand Prix, taking advantage of the wet conditions to stun the Aprilia contingent.

The reigning MotoGP world champion posted a best time of 1m34.203s aboard the factory Ducati in the final minutes of Qualifying 2, beating his brother Alex Marquez to the top spot by a whopping margin of 1.493s.

LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco came through Q1 to secure a spot on the front row, while points leader Jorge Martin could only manage fourth on the best of the Aprilia RS-GPs.

While the track was already wet following overnight showers, a fresh bout of rain at the start of Q2 complicated the situation further for riders.

Marc Marquez became the first victim of the deteriorating conditions, crashing at Turn 4 just three minutes into the session without a lap time on the board.

But the nine-time world champion was able to bring his hobbled bike back to the paddock via the service lane, before jumping on his second machine and heading back out on track.

Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

On his first flying lap of the session, the Spaniard immediately jumped to the top of the timesheets, dispatching early pacesetter Zarco by 0.087s.

At this stage, his title rivals Marco Bezzecchi and Martin sat in sixth and 10th respectively, unable to replicate their Friday pace in the wet.

As the final runs began, Zarco again shone on the LCR Honda, retaking the top spot with a blistering time of 1m35.706s.

But ultimately the Frenchman had no answer to Marquez, who found a whopping 1.5s on his final lap to claim his fourth pole of the season.

His Gresini-mounted brother Alex Marquez jumped to second in the closing stages to complete a 1-2 for Ducati, while Zarco hung on to third place to secure a front row start for Honda.

Championship leader Martin delivered two late improvements to qualify as the best Aprilia in fourth place, demoting home hero Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) to fifth place.

Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing

Raul Fernandez ended up sixth for Trackhouse, with Pedro Acosta qualifying seventh for KTM ahead of Fabio di Giannantonio’s VR46 Ducati.

Bezzecchi endured his worst qualifying session since the Catalan GP in ninth, just beating the LCR Honda of Diogo Moreira. Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) and Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) completed the top 12.

Earlier in Q1, Brad Binder made a major improvement in the final two minutes, but was ultimately demoted by Miller and Zarco, ending up 13th on the grid on the factory KTM.

Iker Lecuona, standing in for Fermin Aldeguer at Gresini, qualified 14th on his return, just ahead of Maverick Vinales (Tech3) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).

Augusto Fernandez, likewise, impressed as a substitute rider, beating the factory Yamahas of Alex Rins and Fabio Quartararo on the Pramac bike that belongs to the injured Toprak Razgatlioglu.

The depleted 20-bike field was completed by Franco Morbidelli on the VR46 Ducati.

Prior to FP2, Honda announced that Luca Marini will withdraw from the remainder of the weekend due to illness, leaving the factory team without a single rider on the grid. Joan Mir was already sitting out the Australian GP due to unrelated health-related issues.

MotoGP Australian GP qualifying results

Q2 results

All Stats

 

Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93		Ducati	7	1'34.203		169.981
2	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	7	+1.494 1'35.697	1.494	167.328
3	J. Zarco Team LCR	5		Honda	8	+1.503 1'35.706	0.009	167.312
4	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	89		Aprilia	8	+1.577 1'35.780	0.074	167.183
5	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43		Yamaha	7	+1.781 1'35.984	0.204	166.827
6	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25		Aprilia	8	+1.947 1'36.150	0.166	166.539
7	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37		KTM	8	+2.297 1'36.500	0.350	165.935
8	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	8	+2.303 1'36.506	0.006	165.925
9	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72		Aprilia	8	+2.317 1'36.520	0.014	165.901
10	D. Moreira Team LCR	11		Honda	8	+3.681 1'37.884	1.364	163.589
11	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23		KTM	7	+4.444 1'38.647	0.763	162.324
12	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79		Aprilia	8	+5.186 1'39.389	0.742	161.112
View full results

Q1 results

All Stats

 

Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43		Yamaha	7	1'35.461		167.741
2	J. Zarco Team LCR	5		Honda	8	+0.001 1'35.462	0.001	167.740
3	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	8	+0.535 1'35.996	0.534	166.806
4	I. Lecuona Gresini Racing	27		Ducati	8	+0.835 1'36.296	0.300	166.287
5	M. Viñales Tech 3	12		KTM	8	+1.226 1'36.687	0.391	165.614
6	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63		Ducati	9	+1.298 1'36.759	0.072	165.491
7	A. Fernandez Pramac Racing	47		Yamaha	8	+1.317 1'36.778	0.019	165.459
8	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	8	+1.450 1'36.911	0.133	165.232
9	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	8	+1.779 1'37.240	0.329	164.672
10	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21		Ducati	6	+2.443 1'37.904	0.664	163.556
View full results