Quartararo Blitzes to Phillip Island Lap Record Pole

The Frenchman pulled off another lap for the ages at The Island, but it was Miller who had the home crowd in raptures

Cool but dry conditions greeted riders as they took to the track for Phillip Island qualifying, with all eyes on Bezzecchi as he looked to convert his incredible speed in practice into a front row grid position, despite carrying a double long lap penalty into tomorrow’s race for causing an accident with Marc Marquez in Indonesia.

There was drama early in Q1 as Lorenzo Savadori nearly collected Brad Binder at Siberia before crashing himself. Jack Miller took charge at the top of the timesheets, while Fermín Aldeguer suffered a huge tankslapper coming onto the straight on a later flyer, but his earlier lap was enough to make it through. Miller and Aldeguer would eventually make it through to Q2 by the barest of margins from Binder, with the South African then baulking Zarco’s hot lap after the Frenchman had set red sector times through the first half of the lap.

Q2 opened with Miller cleverly locking onto Alex Marquez for a tow, and the pair immediately went 1–2 as times plunged into the low 1:27s. Moments later, Alex crashed at Honda corner, forcing Marco Bezzecchi to abort his hot lap. Miller then lit up the timing screens with an outstanding 1:26.8 to go top. Aldeguer pushed hard through Turns 11 and 12 and kept it tidy onto the straight this time, but it was only good enough for fourth. Bezzecchi’s frustration was further compounded as he was badly held up into Turn 4 by a cruising Bagnaia and Marini. Aldeguer climbed to second, but he still couldn’t dislodge Miller. Pol Espargaró continued his impressive weekend form to sit third to that stage, though Acosta would eventually usurp as the fastest KTM rider.

With Bezzecchi so far unable to show his speed, the second flying runs were always going to reshuffle the order and on cue Bezzecchi smashed Miller’s benchmark with a mid‑1:26. Alex Marquez then suffered another fall at Turn 1, a heavy, high-speed spill that left him looking worse for wear. Bezzecchi went again and was on a stormer, two-tenths up through MG, while Pedro Acosta edged Miller to move into second. Francesco Bagnaia languished in 11th as his 2025 struggles rolled on at the Island.

Then Fabio Quartararo lit up the dash with red sectors and pulled off another ‘El Diablo’ single lap special, sealing pole with a new all-time lap record. Behind him, Miller found more time to grab third, securing a home front row to rapturous cheers. It’s Miller’s first front-row start in over two years, the first Australian to start on the front row at a home Grand Prix since Casey Stoner in 2012, and remarkably, the first time in 98 races that no Ducati features on the front row.

This afternoon’s Sprint and tomorrow’s race promise to be the most wide open GP in years, with the Yamahas and Aprilias well and truly competitive with the leading Ducatis.

2025 Phillip Island MotoGP Qualifying