Marc Marquez lays down the marker in the opening session of the Australian GP, outpacing Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez while home favourite Jack Miller rounds out the top three.
Rain held off at Phillip Island for Friday’s opening MotoGP practice, where four-time circuit winner Marc Marquez set the fastest time with a 1:27.985, still 1.5 seconds shy of Fabio Quartararo’s all-time lap record (1:26.465).
Raul Fernandez impressed in second place despite an incident. Still coping with broken fingers from his Mandalika crash and forced to brake using his middle finger, the Trackhouse rider was declared fit by Dr. Angel Charte after a fall at Turn 7, recovering to finish just behind Marquez.
Home favorite Jack Miller rounded out the top three, also walking away unscathed from a late crash into Turn 1.
Marco Bezzecchi followed in fourth ahead of Alex Marquez in fifth on the second fastest Ducati, with Pedro Acosta taking P6.
The championship leader slotted into seventh ahead of Ai Ogura in eighth, while last year’s pole-sitter Fabio Quartararo secured P9 ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio in tenth.
Further down, Brad Binder finished 11th after an engine failure disrupted his session, leading Johann Zarco in 12th, while Alex Rins, Enea Bastianini, and Maverick Vinales completed the top 15.
Earlier in the session, Iker Lecuona, filling in for Fermin Aldeguer this weekend, suffered an early fall at Turn 7.
Finally, it proved to be a difficult start to the Australian GP for Honda HRC, whose sole representative this weekend, Luca Marini, battled illness and managed only a handful of laps before retreating to his garage. The Italian took the last time in the session.
Discussion about this post