The rain stays away in Practice and it’s a Marquez 1-2 as Bezzecchi nabs third and the top two title contenders make it through – leaving the ‘Beast’ with work to do Down Under.
After a washout in FP1 (although an entertaining one at that), thankfully the weather gods played nicely in the afternoon to allow the MotoGP™ riders a full 60 minutes of dry running around the phenomenal Phillip Island. And leading the way into Saturday will be Marc Marquez, who beat brother and Gresini Racing MotoGP™ teammate Alex Marquez by 0.102s, as Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) made it a Ducati GP23 1-2-3 on Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) ended Day 1 in P4 and P5 to sail safely into Q2, but it’s not the same story for Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) as the Italian will need to wade through Q1 after ending Practice in P16.
With more rain potentially on the horizon and the asphalt – for the time being – dry, full attack mode was engaged right from the off in the 60-minute stint. And there was also early drama for the World Championship leader. Martin tucked the front at Turn 4 after nearly running into the back of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™). It was a small tip-off for the #89, but would it prove costly?
After 15 minutes, Pecco and Martin both hadn’t set a time. Marc Marquez was the session pacesetter after the #93 set a 1:29.020 before a brief red-flag stoppage was had after some overly keen spectators (geese to be precise) decided to have a wander onto the circuit.
A minute later, we were back underway. The top three in the Championship were outside the top 10 with Bastianini in P11 and both Pecco and Martin still yet to set a time. The title-chasing duo needed to wriggle on and on their first attempts, Martin climbed to P9 and Pecco went to P16. 90 seconds later, Martin was up to second, 0.2s away from Marquez’s time, with Pecco improving but only to P13.
Meanwhile, Bastianini jumped to P3 with 36 minutes to go, with Pecco now in the top 10 – but only just. That didn’t last long though because with the rain holding off, riders were finding time. That included home hero Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), who shot to P1 by nearly three tenths thanks to a 1:28.731.
Around 10 minutes later, Marquez returned to the timesheet summit with a 1:28.454. Elsewhere, Bagnaia was back out and the #1 was now up to P6 before that became P4 a lap later, but with the rain still staying away, the closing 20 minutes were getting busy.
Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) was having a strong session as the Frenchman went P2 with 13 minutes to go before Viñales set the new fastest lap of the day. Miller climbed back up the order to P3 and now, Bagnaia was in P11 with 10 minutes to go. That was then P8, but a 1:28.712 wasn’t going to be enough.
And so it proved. A Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) PB lap saw Pecco drop out of the top 10 and at the same time, Martin rose to P3. The goalposts were then moved significantly by an eight-time World Champion. Marquez set a 1:27.770 to go 0.3s clear of Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) before Martin cut the advantage to 0.197s.
Needing a good lap time in the final five minutes, Bagnaia delivered a 1:28.013 to propel the reigning Champion to P4, 0.243s adrift of Marquez’s effort. A late pair of crashes for Acosta and Miller – the former at Turn 4 and the latter at Turn 6 – brought out some late yellow flags, and it was a crash that cost Acosta a top 10. In the end, it did for Miller too as Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) and Alex Marquez left it late to leap into the automatic Q2 positions.
Well in the end it was worth the wait. A busy Practice session ends as attention now turns to Saturday in Phillip Island. What will the weather bring for qualifying and the Tissot Sprint? We’ll find out soon enough as a crucial Super Saturday beckons in Australia and as ever, you can catch it all on motogp.com!
FP2: 10:00 (UTC +11)
Q1: 10:50
Q2: 11:15
Tissot Sprint: 15:00
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