MotoGP: Marc Marquez Scores Dazzling Pole on Drying Phillip Island

Photo by Gold & Goose

Marc Marquez made what seemed a very bold decision to switch to slick tires even though there were still a few damp areas on the Phillip Island circuit. It proved to be yet another perfect decision for the newly-crowned World Champion and he dominated the second half of the final qualifying session to put his Repsol Honda on the pole for Sunday’s Michelin Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

It was the 37^th-career MotoGP pole for Marquez.

Marquez eluded to possible challenges on Sunday, if dry, to maintain a tire throughout the length of the entire Grand Prix.

“It was a little bit difficult, especially to make the decision,” Marquez said of being the first to go to full slicks. “There was coming some rain from the sea and I knew and you could see, no, that it was coming at a good rate. But I say OK, I take a risk because the track was completely dry. And I put the slick and then I did a few laps really fast, but already at the end the tire dropped and it started to spin too much. But for the race I’m very happy with pole position. We will see if tomorrow is dry because nobody knows the tires, nobody knows how we can manage the race, but we will try to do our best.”

Coming in second was Brit Cal Crutchlow on his LCR Honda. Crutchlow had to come through Q1 to even make it to the final qualifying, which he did along with Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo. It was the second front-row start this season for Crutchlow, who admitted he may have waited too long to make the move to slick tires.

Pol Espargaro turned in a strong run for his best qualifying of the year on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3. It marked the first front-row start for Espargaro since 2014.

At the start of the Q2 session there was a huge decision for the teams and riders as the track was drying, but more rain was predicted to arrive about halfway through the session. Most teams decided to start with full intermediate tires.

Stefan Bradl on the Aprilia set the early standard with a 1:35.710. Then it was Cal Crutchlow, who came in from Q1, who went to the top with a 1:33.556 as the track continued to dry, but with rain clouds on the near horizon. Andrea Dovizioso then went to P1 with a 1:33.090.

Marquez went out on full slicks, gambling he could deal with the few remaining damp areas of the circuit. It proved to be a brilliant move and he went to the top with a 1:32.239.  But then it was Crutchlow, with six minutes remaining taking back the point with a 1:32.189. The trading of positions continued with Marquez again taking P1 with five minutes to go. He then went even better to push his time down to 1:30.670.

It was unbelievable tense as riders could see dark clouds on overtaking the skies above the track with three minutes to go, but the weather held throughout the session and Marquez went even faster to win the pole.

American Nicky Hayden turned some heads by topping the wet FP4 session in his fill-in role with Repsol Honda for the injured Dani Pedrosa. Hayden came through to a solid seventh in the final qualifying session with a 1:32.944. It was his best MotoGP qualifying position since the end of 2013.

Notable was the fact that second-ranked Valentino Rossi missed the cut for the Q2 session and start 15^th from the grid on Sunday.

The Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix takes the green flag at 1:00am eastern Sunday morning.

MICHELIN AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX MotoGP Qualifying Nr. 2 Classification Phillip Island, Saturday, October 22, 2016