Photography by Gold & Goose
MotoGP qualifying for the Tissot Australian Grand Prix was a tense session with rain in the Phillips Island area, but as has been the case all season it was Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez showing best under pressure, scoring his 12th pole of the season. That tied him with Casey Stoner equaling the highest number of MotoGP poles in a single season. Marquez turned in a lap at 1:28.408 late in the Q2 session to score the pole. Cal Crutchlow (Ducati) and Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) will join Marquez on the front row for Sunday’s race.
Pressure was on at the start of Q2 since there was a spot of rain falling just before the beginning of the session. That meant riders went out hard from the drop of the green flag, knowing that it could rain at any moment.
It was Marquez opening the session with the fastest time, and bettering it on his second flying lap with a 1:28.830. Then it was his Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa, coming out of Q1, to set the fast time with a 1:28.675 to end the first segment of the 12-minute session on top.
As the riders came out for the final segment of Q2, within seconds Lorenzo, Crutchlow and then Marquez each shared P1 with a little over two minutes to go. Marquez’ 1:28.408 moved him to the top spot. That lap time would ultimately hold for the pole.
“Yeah, it was really good and I’m happy to be on the pole,” said Marquez, who clinched his second-consecutive MotoGP Championship just six days ago. “After Japan, here it looks like a great weekend for me. I feel good. We struggled a little in the beginning of FP1, but after that we found a way to work well with the new rear tire. Tomorrow will be a tough race because Yamaha is strong. They have a good pace, but even with that in FP4 I was able to ride well, consistent and we are ready to fight for the victory.”
For Crutchlow he’s ending his largely difficult season with Ducati on a high note.
“We’ve been going a lot better this weekend again,” said Crutchlow, who scored his first front-row start of the season. “I think we’ve all struggled with the tires. So I’m very pleased to give Ducati this front row. They deserved it, we worked hard all weekend. We’re on the same bike I tested in Sepang, also when we tested here as well. I used the same setup. I’m pleased to get the front row with the old bike. All credit to the team. Hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow.”
It marks the eighth front-row start of the season for Yamaha’s Lorenzo, coming into this race with two consecutive wins and being the defending winner in Australia.
“Everyone has struggled so much to get grip,” Lorenzo said of the tire issues so many riders are dealing with at Phillips Island. “Especially in the exit of the corner, but also entering and at the maximum angle. The tires are harder so it’s difficult to do the same pace as last year – a half-second or one second slower. But it is the same for everyone, so… I think we managed to get a very good setup and we are very happy because we can keep a constant pace. I tried my best to make a perfect lap. I made two very fast laps, but it was not enough to get pole position. Anyway third place. Our rivals Rossi and Pedrosa are behind, so I’m happy.”
American Nicky Hayden qualified 15th, 1.445 seconds off the pole time.
Race coverage begins on Fox Sports 1 at 12:00am Eastern Saturday, with the green flag start at 1:00am Eastern.
MotoGP qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix from Phillip Island – Oct. 18, 2014
1 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 346.2 1’28.408
2 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Ducati Team Ducati 345.9 1’28.642 0.234 / 0.234
3 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 342.0 1’28.650 0.242 / 0.008
4 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 341.1 1’28.656 0.248 / 0.006
5 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 335.2 1’28.675 0.267 / 0.019
6 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 338.0 1’28.866 0.458 / 0.191
7 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 342.7 1’28.887 0.479 / 0.021
8 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 344.0 1’28.956 0.548 / 0.069
9 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 340.1 1’28.968 0.560 / 0.012
10 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 343.8 1’29.088 0.680 / 0.120
11 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 340.9 1’29.155 0.747 / 0.067
12 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Drive M7 Aspar Honda 333.0 1’29.955 1.547 / 0.800
13 45 Scott REDDING GBR GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 326.8 1’30.280 1.183 / 0.114
14 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 340.3 1’30.348 1.251 / 0.068
15 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Drive M7 Aspar Honda 324.7 1’30.542 1.445 / 0.194
16 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Honda 332.2 1’30.569 1.472 / 0.027
17 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 341.6 1’30.635 1.538 / 0.066
18 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 341.3 1’30.729 1.632 / 0.094
19 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo IodaRacing Team ART 325.8 1’30.812 1.715 / 0.083
20 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Avintia 318.2 1’31.431 2.334 / 0.619
21 70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 327.9 1’31.492 2.395 / 0.061
22 23 Broc PARKES AUS Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 314.3 1’31.730 2.633 / 0.238
23 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 335.1 1’32.595 3.498 / 0.865
