Marquez fourth and Hayden ninth in rainy first day at Phillip Island
Marc Marquez set the fourth-best lap time at a rainy, windswept Phillip Island Circuit on the opening day of the Australian Grand Prix. Conditions had been harsh enough during the FP1 session and became even worse in the afternoon, so the FP2 session was delayed to 3:45 p.m. from the original schedule of 3:05.
Just six riders took to the track for the FP2 session, and nobody improved upon their best times from the morning. Less than 15 minutes into the session, it was red-flagged as rain once again started to hit hard. Now everyone just hopes conditions will be better tomorrow, even if the forecasts aren’t too encouraging so far.
Nicky Hayden’s 9th place was very impressive considering both the difficult conditions and the fact that he rode the bike for the first time today after having arrived from Europe only on Wednesday night.
Marc Marquez
“Today has not been one of the most fun days of the year. We were hoping for a dry day to enjoy ourselves on the bike after the Japanese Grand Prix, but it has not been the case. Although it rained all day, in the morning we put in a few laps, but at the end of the session we had to stop because there was too much water on the track. This afternoon it was also raining, making it dangerous to ride, and that is why the red flag was shown. We decided not to go out because it was an unnecessary risk. Hopefully tomorrow the conditions will improve at least a little, so there will not be as much water on track, and we will continue to work for Sunday.”
Nicky Hayden
“Conditions obviously weren’t ideal today but that happens sometimes. In the morning the bike felt quite good in the wet. I felt pretty comfortable and was just trying to get up to speed when it started to rain harder; there was too much water, so I came in. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten many laps in today in any conditions but the bike felt good. I also improved my lap times in my second exit this morning when the track was worse compared to the start of the session, so that was pretty positive. Now we’ll just wait and see what kind of conditions we get and we’ll try and get as much track time as possible to understand the bike and the team more. Let’s keep going.”
Results Session
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|
Location Information
Phillip Island, the self-styled home of Australian motorsport, is steeped in motor racing tradition, with the first car races having been held there on public roads in the 1920s. The first motorcycle races took place in 1931 and a permanent track was built in 1956. The circuit fell into disrepair… read more.
| Length | 4.448 kilometres / 2.764 miles |
| Width | 13 metres |
| Left corners | 7 |
| Right corners | 5 |
| Longest straight | 0.900 kilometres / 0.559 miles |
| Constructed | 1956 |
| Modified | 1988 |
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Phillip Island, Ventnor, Victoria, Australia - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m 27.246s (183.5 km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducati, 2023) |
| Race Lap | 1m 28.108s (181.7 km/h) Marc Marquez (Honda, 2013) |
| Race Time | 40m 33.849s (177.6 km/h) Marc Marquez (Honda, 2015) |
| 2023 Race Winner | Johann Zarco (Ducati) |
