Marquez on pole, Miller fifth fastest

Defending MotoGP champion Marc Marques (Repsol Honda) will start tomorrow’s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Phillip Island circuit from pole position following a fierce battle for the top spot during the 15-minute Qualifying 2 session.

If qualifying is any indication of the action we will witness during tomorrow’s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, we are in for a tight and exciting race.

The pace was frenetic as the top six riders Marc Marquez (Honda), Maverick Vinales (Yamaha), Johann Zarco (Yamaha), Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) and Jack Miller (Honda) went toe-to-toe in the early stages of the battle for pole position.

Miller and Iannone latched onto the tail-pipe of championship leader Marques in the early stages, and at one stage Iannone looked like he was going to produce a fairytale result for the Suzuki team when his name appeared at the top of the timesheets. Frenchman Johann Zarco then retaliated on the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha to go to the top spot. Just as it was looking like Zarco and the satellite Tech 3 Yamaha team would claim its second consecutive MotoGP pole position, it was Vinales’ turn to momentarily jumped to the top spot on the factory Yamaha before Marquez pulled off a 1m28.386s lap to claim the 72nd pole position of his Grand Prix career.

After being as high as third place during the early stages, Aussie hero Jack Miller secured a second-row start for his home Grand Prix, finishing the session in fifth positions with a 1m28.964s lap, one of only five riders to dip into the 28-second bracket during the qualifying session. 

Joining poleman Marquez (1m28.386s) on the front row of the grid is Maverick Vinales (1m28.719s) and Johann Zarco (1m28.744s).

Andrea Iannone (1m28.937s) will start from the second row alongside Jack Miller (1m28.964), with Pol Espargaro (1m29.030s) claiming an impressive second-row start for KTM.

Marquez’s championship rival, Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, suffered a torrid qualifying session, seemingly unable to regroup following a crash during the Free Practice 4 session.  Dovizioso appeared on the timesheets in 12th position at the start of the session, and remained there until the dying moments. It took a last ditched effort to lift himself from the canvass and leapfrog Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and move into 11th position (1m29.496s), and a lowly fourth row start for tomorrow’s race. He wasn’t the only Ducati rider to struggle, his factory Ducati teammate Jorge Lorenzo could only manage 1m30.085s for a 16th grid position, sharing the sixth row with Loris Baz (1m30.224s) and Danilo Petrucci 1m30.471s

Aussie wildcard Broc Parkes (1m30.889s) riding the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha will start tomorrow’s race from the seventh row in 21st position.

The grid for tomorrow’s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix is as follows

Row 1

1    M MARQUEZ    SPA   HON 1m28.386s   

2    M VIÑALES    SPA   YAH  1m28.719s   

3    J ZARCO    FRA    YAM    1m28.744s    

Row 2

4    A IANNONE    ITA    SUZ 1m28.937s   

5    J MILLER    AUS    HON 1m28.964s   

6    P ESPARGARO    SPA    KTM 1m29.030s  

Row 3

7    V ROSSI    ITA    YAM    1m29.203s   

8    A ESPARGARO    SPA    APR 1m29.271s   

9    B SMITH    GBR    KTM 1m29.321s

Row 4

10    C CRUTCHLOW    HON 1m29.429s  

11    A DOVIZIOSO    ITA    DUC  1m29.496s   

12    D PEDROSA    SPA    HON 1m29.546s

Row 5

13 A RINNS SPA SUZ 1m29.824s

14 T RABAT SPA HON 1m29.847

15 K ABRAHAMS CZE  DUC 1m29.961s

Row 6

16 J LORENO SPA DUC 1m30.085s

17 L BAZ FRA DUC 1m30.224s

18 D PATRUCCI ITA DUC 1m30.471s

Row 7

19 H BARBERA SPA DUC 1m30.543s

20 S REDDING GBR DUC 1m30.806s

21 B PARKES AUD YAM 1m30.889s

Row 8

22 A BAUTISTA SPA DUC 1.30.900s

23 S LOWES GBR APR 1.31.158s