Marquez claims pole for Australian MotoGP

Marc Marquez has claimed his 44th career MotoGP pole position ahead of tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

The Honda rider set the pace early in the session before logging a 1:28.386s lap in the dying stages confirming himself at the front of the grid.

Marquez, Andrea Iannone and Jack Miller ran nose-to-tail in the opening minutes to initially take the top three places, only for Johann Zarco to go quickest with a 1:28.744s as the session began to draw to a close.

Tough falling down the order, Miller equalled his career-best qualifying result and will start from the middle of the second row, between Iannone and Pol Esparago on the KTM.

Championship contender Andrea Dovizisio qualified just eleventh after failing to improve on his final lap, the Ducati driver quick in the first sector before dropping time in the middle part of the lap.

Having escaped from Q1, Valentino Rossi posted the seventh fastest time to start from the third row.

Bradley Smith also found his way into Qualifying 2 to make it two KTMs in the final part of qualifying, ending the session ninth.

Danilo Petrucci crashed out in the first part of the session while Cal Crutchlow crashed out in the final moments of Qualifying 2 on his way to tenth place.

Australian Broc Parkes was eleventh fastest in the first part of qualifying while Jorge Lorenzo, who fell heavily earlier in the day, could only manage sixth best in Q1 to start 16th for tomorrow’s race.

A 20-minute warmup at 11:40 AEDT Sunday morning is the last time riders will be on track before tomorrow afternoon’s 27-lap Australian MotoGP at 16:00.

Result: Australian MotoGP Qualifying

Position	Rider	Team	Bike	Time
1	Marc MARQUEZ	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1m28.386s
2	Maverick VIÑALES	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1m28.719s
3	Johann ZARCO	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1m28.744s
4	Andrea IANNONE	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1m28.937s
5	Jack MILLER	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1m28.964s
6	Pol ESPARGARO	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1m29.030s
7	Valentino ROSSI	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1m29.203s
8	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1m29.271s
9	Bradley SMITH	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1m29.321s
10	Cal CRUTCHLOW	LCR Honda	Honda	1m29.429s
11	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati Team	Ducati	1m29.496s
12	Dani PEDROSA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1m29.546s
13	Alex RINS	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1m29.824s
14	Tito RABAT	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1m29.847s
15	Karel ABRAHAM	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	1m29.961s
16	Jorge LORENZO	Ducati Team	Ducati	1m30.085s
17	Loris BAZ	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1m30.224s
18	Danilo PETRUCCI	OCTO Pramac Racing	Ducati	1m30.471s
19	Hector BARBERA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1m30.543s
20	Scott REDDING	OCTO Pramac Racing	Ducati	1m30.806s
21	Broc PARKES	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1m30.889s
22	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	1m30.900s
23	Sam LOWES	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1m31.158s