Martin trounces rivals in Phillip Island MotoGP pole battle

MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin obliterated in the opposition in the Australian Grand Prix pole battle at Phillip Island.

Martin came up just short of surpassing his own lap record from 2023, but still proved completely out of reach for his rivals - including title adversary Pecco Bagnaia, who salvaged a fifth place despite lapping 1.182s slower.

Australian GP grid

1. Martin - 2. M. Marquez - 3. Vinales
4. Bezzecchi - 5. Bagnaia - 6. R. Fernandez
7. Morbidelli - 8. A. Marquez - 9. Rins
10. Bastianini - 11. Binder - 12. Di Giannantonio
13. Marini - 14. Zarco - 15. Acosta
16. Miller - 17. A. Fernandez - 18. Mir
19. Quartararo - 20. Espargaro - 21. Nakagami
22. Savadori

Though rain had stopped midway through the Moto2 practice earlier in the day, a cold and windy Phillip Island wasn't drying as fast as most circuits would be - yet still drying fast enough for riders to contest Q1 on slicks.

As Q2 rolled around, the track was already close to optimum condition, as evidenced by Maverick Vinales lapping in the 1m27s range on his first run.

Martin was just behind Vinales at that point, but while Vinales couldn't improve on his second run (lamenting traffic on his final lap), Martin could - shrugging off a moment at Lukey Heights to go again the next time around and stamp his authority on Q2.

Gresini Ducati rider Marc Marquez, who had topped the two practice sessions held during the weekend so far, managed to get over the start-finish line moments before the chequered flag to start one final lap, which lifted him to second on the grid past Vinales.

But he was still 0.594s down on Martin.

Marco Bezzecchi was fourth for VR46 Ducati, followed by a muted Bagnaia and Trackhouse Aprilia's Raul Fernandez - who had come through Q1.

Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati), Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Alex Rins (Yamaha) made up the third row, followed by Ducati's Enea Bastianini - who had also advanced from Q1.

Brad Binder, KTM's sole representative in Q2, and VR46 Ducati's Fabio Di Giannantonio rounded out the order in the session, the latter crashing early on at the high-speed Doohan corner.

Honda duo Luca Marini and Johann Zarco came close to snatching a Q2 spot for Honda but ultimately both came up short in the final moments, with Marini in 13th managing to finish as the top Honda qualifier for the first time this season.

Pedro Acosta (Tech3 Gas Gas) led much of Q1 but wasn't improving at the right time and was relegated down to fifth-fastest - so 15th on the grid - after the Q1 chequered flag.

He was followed by KTM's Jack Miller, who hit a rabbit during the session and in doing so damaged his aero fairing.

After a clutch issue compromised his Friday, Fabio Quartararo was nowhere near advancing to Q2 - though while he was 1.2 off the pace in Q1, he was also 1.2s up on the next-fastest rider, Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro, who will line up behind Quartararo in 20th.