Jorge Martin flew to a third MotoGP pole position of 2022 at Phillip Island, while all three main title contenders will start together towards the front of the pack.
The Pramac Ducati rider looked to possess a decent turn of speed having largely kept quiet throughout practice, the Spaniard lapping second quickest in the early stages of the pole shootout behind championship charger Francesco Bagnaia, whose 1:28.054s left him marginally clear of his fellow Ducati rider.
Martin and Pramac team-mate Johann Zarco – who managed to escape the clutches of Q1 just minutes before – elected to head out on track together as the session approached its conclusion in order to guarantee themselves free space.
This would prove a bountiful strategy as both lit up the timesheets on their final efforts, Zarco first of all moving clear of Bagnaia with a 1:28.007s before Martin crossed the line just moments later to record a blistering 1:27.767s tour to leave him well clear at the top.
Martin’s gambit would ultimately prove unbeatable for the rest as he held onto a third pole of the year by just 0.013s ahead of Honda’s Marc Marquez, who utilised a useful slipstream from Bagnaia to score a front-row starting slot.
The Italian therefore had to settle for third in the end, though crucially still ahead of title rival’s Aleix Espargaro and Quartararo, who managed to claim fourth and fifth on the grid respectively right on the coattails of the Ducati ace.
Zarco would end up being shuffled back to sixth in the final reckoning ahead of VR46 Ducati pilot Luca Marini and the factory Ducati entry of home hero Jack Miller.
Marco Bezzecchi saw an encouraging lap right at the death that could have scored him a front row go to waste as he ended up slotting into ninth after losing time, while Suzuki’s Alex Rins completed the top ten having joined Zarco in progressing from Q1.
Alex Marquez will start 11th for LCR Honda, while Maverick Vinales completed the 12 shootout runners on his Aprilia.
Enea Bastianini missed out on a chance of the pole shootout by just 0.030s initially, though lost his best lap as a result of running through a yellow flag – a penalty that demoted him to 15th just behind Honda’s Pol Espargaro and the sister Suzuki of Joan Mir, who showed decent speed on his return from injury.
KTM’s so far tricky weekend failed to improve in qualifying as Brad Binder ended as the highest-placed RC16 down in 16th just ahead of RNF Yamaha duo Cal Crutchlow and Darryn Binder, while Remy Gardner will start 19th in what looks to be his only home encounter in the premier class ahead of a move to the World Superbike series next season.
The reigning Moto2 world champion did well to out-qualify factory KTM man Miguel Oliveira and Tech 3 team-mate Raul Fernandez – who ended up 21st and 22nd respectively – while Franco Morbidelli once again flattered to deceive in a lowly 23rd, ahead only of LCR Honda replacement rider Tetsuta Nagashima.
