Marquez takes blistering pole in Australia with heartache for Pedrosa in 4th
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has taken an incredible pole position – his 30th in MotoGP – as he chases his first win in the premier class at Phillip Island, but unfortunately teammate Dani Pedrosa was demoted from second to fourth in the dying seconds of qualifying.
Since yesterday’s FP2, Marc has led every session here in Phillip Island and immediately shot to the top on his first exit in qualifying. On his second run, Marc was on track to improve his time again however, a big moment in turn four – where he was lucky to save the bike from crashing – forced him back into the pits for new rubber for his final third exit. Marc delivered an incredible lap, improving his first run by three tenths with a time of 1’28.364 and securing pole position.
Dani found traffic on his first flying lap but was then able to get a fast lap in. On his second run, he improved by half a second and his time of 1’28.712 placed him second with just a handful of riders remaining. However, in the final moments, Lorenzo and Iannone crossed the line with identical times just 0.032 seconds ahead of Dani and relegated him to fourth.
Tomorrow’s race will begin at 16h00 local time.
Marc Marquez
"I am pleased with how the day went, and of course with pole position! Thanks to the team for all their work, we have a good pace for tomorrow and we are ready to fight for the podium and hopefully the victory tomorrow. However we must wait and see what happens, because here every day is different; it can be sunny but then all of a sudden clouds can appear, and the key will be interpreting how the track conditions are, in order to have a good race."
Dani Pedrosa
"Today was a difficult day, especially in the morning. It was quite cold and very windy, and I had problems in FP3, which did not go well. FP4 went somewhat better, although my pace was still not amongst the fastest. However, in the qualifying session we managed to improve a lot, finally setting a good lap time and qualifying well."
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) |
