AUSSIE hope Jack Miller has it all to do if he wants to be the first local since Casey Stoner in 2012 to win the Australian round of the MotoGP World Championship.
Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) has qualified eighth on the grid, his worst qualifying result since he was 11th in Catalunya earlier this year, although he won from seventh at Motegi.
And he is still the most recent Australian rider to win a GP race at the track (in Moto3 in 2014).
He’ll start from the third row on the grid in the big race at 2pm on Sunday, October 16 after posting a fastest lap time of 1:28.116 in qualifying, behind Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) in pole with 1:27.767 and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.013; both under Jorge Lorenzo’s All Time Lap Record which dates all the way back to 2013 when he set a 1:27.767 on his Ducati Desmosedici.
The other rider on the front row of the grid is Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), in fact, the top three in the Championship are third, fourth, and fifth, with Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) to head up Row 2 and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) set to grid up right next to him.
Ultimate pole sitter, Jorge Martin, was on pace from the start of the day at qualifying on Saturday but leadership chopped and changed right to the end of the sessions.
Here is the final top 10 and while any of the top five could claim the race on Sunday, Miller is competitive enough to at least get on to the podium at the end of the day:
MotoGP™ Q2 Top 10
1. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) – 1:27.767
2. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.013
3. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.186
4. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 0.190
5. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.206
6. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.240
7. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.262
8. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.349
9. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.418
10. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.774
After a record-breaking Q2, the stage is set for an awesome Sunday afternoon as MotoGP lights up Phillip Island again. Warm Up starts at 09:40, before the 27-lap race itself gets underway at 2pm.
The wet weather on Thursday and Friday has affected crowds at the Island for the weekend but with fine weather predicted on Sunday, admittedly only with a top of 16 degrees, numbers are expected to swell for the return of MotoGP racing at the Phillip Island’s famous circuit for the first time in three years.
Visitors have praised organisers for the system of buses getting fans to the track and for track hospitality. All we have to get right now is the weather.
