Qualifying report

MotoGP Australian GP: Martin crushes rivals to take pole, Bagnaia fifth

Championship leader unchallenged at Phillip Island while Bagnaia starts from the second row

Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin smashed his opposition on Saturday to claim pole position for the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

The world championship leader was almost six tenths clear of Gresini Ducati’s Marc Marquez, while his his closest title chaser Francesco Bagnaia was only fifth.

Though Martin had to abort his first flying lap after a mistake at Lukey Heights, he nailed four red sectors the following lap to register an unbeatable 1m27.296s that was only a fraction shy of his own lap record from last year.

With Marquez setting a similar time to the one that took him to the top of the timesheets in practice on Friday, the eight-time champion’s prediction that Martin would make a big leap on Saturday was proven correct.

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales repeated his front-row start from two weeks ago in Japan. Unlike his opposition, his best lap came before the riders put fresh rubber on for a final push. The Spaniard said traffic had spoiled his chances of any improvement, adding that he was optimistic for the sprint but uncertain about the grand prix.

Marco Bezzecchi repeated his good Friday pace by clocking the fourth-quickest time, with Bagnaia on the factory Ducati and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing) joining him on the second row after making it into the session via Q1.

The third row will be made up of Pramac Ducati’s Franco Morbidelli, Gresini’s Alex Marquez and 2022 Australian GP winner Alex Rins (Yamaha).

Enea Bastianini, the other man to make it through from Q1, struggled to 10th. He will share row four with KTM’s Brad Binder and VR46 Ducati rider Fabio di Giannantonio.

Saturday morning's FP2 went ahead on damp track and wet tyres, although the sun and wind were out. It was thus already dry enough for some riders to try slicks at the start of Q1.

With conditions continuing to improve throughout the session, it was all about preparation for a push on slick rubber in the final minutes.

The other key was timing. Dicing with the chequered flag to get in a lap as late as possible was essential to Fernandez and Bastianini earning the top two spots into Q2.

Pedro Acosta set the fastest time with a minute to go, but could not improve and was pushed down not only by the lead duo but also by Honda’s Luca Marini and 2023 Australian GP winner Johann Zarco (LCR Honda), ending up 15th on the grid.

Crowd favourite Jack Miller, who hit an animal during the session, will start the sprint and grand prix one spot behind Acosta in 16th.

The track continued to dry as the leading contenders emerged for Q2, with Vinales breaking the 1m28s barrier within a few minutes. The time that would ultimately earn him third on the grid suggested the track was as good as dry ahead of the final attack on new rubber.

Martin proved as much by immediately setting the pace and claiming pole with a time comparable to his 2023 pole lap.

Martin led much of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix before hitting tyre trouble late in the race.

Q2 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89	Ducati	9	1'27.296		183.431
2	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93	Ducati	9	+0.594 1'27.890	0.594	182.191
3	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12	Aprilia	8	+0.695 1'27.991	0.101	181.982
4	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	9	+1.079 1'28.375	0.384	181.191
5	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1	Ducati	8	+1.182 1'28.478	0.103	180.980
6	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	9	+1.202 1'28.498	0.020	180.939
7	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21	Ducati	9	+1.326 1'28.622	0.124	180.686
8	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	8	+1.713 1'29.009	0.387	179.900
9	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	7	+1.763 1'29.059	0.050	179.799
10	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	8	+2.700 1'29.996	0.937	177.927
11	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	7	+2.994 1'30.290	0.294	177.348
12	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	6	+3.040 1'30.336	0.046	177.258
View full results

Q1 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	9	1'29.397		179.120	336
2	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	7	+0.148 1'29.545	0.148	178.824	341
3	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10	Honda	10	+0.330 1'29.727	0.182	178.461	337
4	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	8	+0.389 1'29.786	0.059	178.344	336
5	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	9	+0.420 1'29.817	0.031	178.282	341
6	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	9	+0.512 1'29.909	0.092	178.100	337
7	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37	KTM	8	+0.752 1'30.149	0.240	177.625	333
8	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36	Honda	10	+1.051 1'30.448	0.299	177.038	334
9	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	9	+1.238 1'30.635	0.187	176.673	333
10	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41	Aprilia	9	+2.411 1'31.808	1.173	174.416	338
11	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30	Honda	7	+2.438 1'31.835	0.027	174.364	330
12	L. Savadori Trackhouse Racing Team	32	Aprilia	9	+2.816 1'32.213	0.378	173.650	332
View full results