Qualifying report
MotoGP Australian GP
MotoGP Australian GP: Martin blitzes to pole with new lap record
Jorge Martin scorched to his third pole position of the MotoGP season in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, establishing a new lap record at Phillip Island in the process.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Oct 21, 2023, 1:49 AM
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Pramac Ducati rider Martin eclipsed his own benchmark set in qualifying at the same track last year as he demolished the field with a time of 1m27.246s at the end of second qualifying.
That was a massive 0.416 seconds ahead of nearest rival and Friday pacesetter Brad Binder on the KTM, who along with third-placed Francesco Bagnaia was also within last year's pole time.
Factory Ducati man Bagnaia had to fight his way out of Q1 for the second weekend in a row, but unlike last weekend in Indonesia, he successfully booked one of the two slots in the pole shootout.
However, the championship leader still found himself outpaced by his nearest title rival Martin to the tune of 0.468s.
Aleix Espargaro was the lead Aprilia rider in fourth ahead of two more satellite Ducati riders, Martin's Pramac team-mate Johann Zarco and the Gresini machine of Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Honda's Marc Marquez joined Bagnaia in advancing through to Q2, taking advantage of a tow from Augusto Fernandez to knock out the Tech3 GasGas rider.
Marquez utilised the slipstream of Bagnaia in the second part of qualifying to go seventh-fastest ahead of the second KTM of Jack Miller and Maverick Vinales' Aprilia.
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Completing the Q2 order were VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi, lead Tech3 rider Pol Espargaro and Enea Bastianini on the second of the works Ducatis.
Alex Marquez (Gresini) was the best of the riders to be eliminated in Q1 and will start 13th, with Raul Fernandez (RNF Aprilia) and the second works Honda of Joan Mir for company on the fifth row.
Quartararo will head up the sixth row on the best of the Yamahas with Tech3's Fernandez one spot behind on the grid due to a three-place grid penalty that came for impeding Quartararo in FP2.
Only 21 riders took part in qualifying following the withdrawal of LCR Honda rider Alex Rins, who continues to suffer with pain in his right leg despite having made a successful return from injury last weekend in Indonesia.
Rins' demise dashes hopes of the full 22-rider field all being fit to take part in the race for the first time this season.
The 27-lap main race is slated to begin at 3.10pm local time on Saturday having been moved forward by a day due to the threat of high winds on Sunday, when the sprint is now scheduled to take place, weather permitting.
MotoGP Australian Grand Prix - Q2 results:
Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info
Driver Info
Main Information Additional Data
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap 1 J. Martin Pramac Racing 89
Ducati 7
1'27.246
183.536 2 B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33
KTM 8
+0.416
1'27.662
0.416 182.665 3 F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1
Ducati 7
+0.468
1'27.714
0.052 182.556 4 A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41
Aprilia 6
+0.598
1'27.844
0.130 182.286 5 J. Zarco Pramac Racing 5
Ducati 6
+0.657
1'27.903
0.059 182.164 6 F. Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing 49
Ducati 7
+0.673
1'27.919
0.016 182.131 7 M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team 93
Honda 5
+0.766
1'28.012
0.093 181.938 8 J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43
KTM 7
+0.828
1'28.074
0.062 181.810 9 M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12
Aprilia 8
+0.847
1'28.093
0.019 181.771 10 M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72
Ducati 7
+0.875
1'28.121
0.028 181.713 11 P. Espargaro Tech 3 44
KTM 7
+0.988
1'28.234
0.113 181.481 12 E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23
Ducati 8
+1.041
1'28.287
0.053 181.372 View full results
MotoGP Australian Grand Prix - Q1 results:
Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info
Driver Info
Main Information Additional Data
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap 1 F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1
Ducati 7
1'28.160
181.633 350 2 M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team 93
Honda 7
+0.077
1'28.237
0.077 181.474 347 3 A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73
Ducati 7
+0.164
1'28.324
0.087 181.296 346 4 A. Fernandez Tech 3 37
KTM 7
+0.275
1'28.435
0.111 181.068 345 5 R. Fernández RNF Racing 25
Aprilia 7
+0.447
1'28.607
0.172 180.717 342 6 J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36
Honda 7
+0.681
1'28.841
0.234 180.241 341 7 F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20
Yamaha 7
+0.765
1'28.925
0.084 180.070 344 8 L. Marini Team VR46 10
Ducati 7
+0.887
1'29.047
0.122 179.824 349 9 M. Oliveira RNF Racing 88
Aprilia 8
+1.022
1'29.182
0.135 179.551 341 10 F. Morbidelli Yamaha Factory Racing 21
Yamaha 7
+1.259
1'29.419
0.237 179.076 345 11 T. Nakagami Team LCR 30
Honda 7
+1.672
1'29.832
0.413 178.252 335 View full results
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