Gresini’s Marc Marquez topped a chaotic MotoGP practice session at Phillip Island earlier today ahead of his younger brother Alex Marquez.
After a storm cancelled the first practice session for the Australian Grand Prix, the timed practice got underway under blue skies, but a threat of rain remained.
The session was extended to 80 minutes, allowing riders to gather extra data ahead of Saturday’s qualifying and both races.
Marquez was quick out of the gates and immediately took risks as he produced another classic save on his way to setting an unbeaten time of 1:27.770.
There proved to be early drama for championship leader Jorge Martin, as he crashed on a warm up lap and was fortunate not to tag the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo.
The session was soon red flagged due to a goose making its way onto the circuit as neither Martin nor Francesco Bagnaia had set a representative lap time.
In the final flurry towards the end of practice, both championship challengers saw themselves improve enough to secure an automatic place in Q2.
Gresini’s Alex Marquez appeared to be struggling despite the apparent pace of the GP23, but a stunning lap right at the death saw him leap up to second on the timing tower.
The rain stayed away, but nobody was able to challenge the GP23 bikes out front, with both Marquez brothers looking imperious as they earned their first 1-2 in a MotoGP session.
VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi concluded a strong showing for the GP23s in third, just under a hundredth ahead of the title contenders Martin and Bagnaia.
Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales was the top non-Ducati rider with his sixth place, as Brad Binder trailed behind in seventh.
Fabio Di Giannantonio ended the session in eighth ahead of compatriot Franco Morbidelli in ninth.
Yamaha’s Alex Rins narrowly pipped teammate Quartararo to the final Q2 spot in 10th, with the Frenchman missing out by 0.015s.
Jack Miller was 12th ahead of Pedro Acosta in 13th, as both will have to progress through Q1 in qualifying.
Johann Zarco had another promising showing for LCR Honda but was only able to earn 14th while Augusto Fernandez was behind in 15th.
Enea Bastianini had a difficult session in Phillip Island and could only muster 16th and was the only Ducati not to make it directly into Q2.
Repsol Honda’s Joan Mir was 17th as he finished the session in front of Aleix Espargaro in 18th.
The second factory Honda of Luca Marini was 19th with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami in 20th.
Trackhouse’s Lorenzo Savadori remains as a stand-in for the injured Miguel Oliveira and finished the session in 21st, while teammate Raul Fernandez admitted to feeling unwell and was 22nd.
