Australian MotoGP, Phillip Island – Free Practice (1) Results

* Rookie

Official Phillip Island MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 1m 28.108s (2013)
Fastest race lap:
Jorge Lorenzo SPA Yamaha 1m 27.899s (2013)

Johann Zarco leads home hero Jack Miller during Free Practice 1 for the Australian MotoGP at a dry but cool Phillip Island.

While the heavy rain that flooded the track has fortunately passed, there were still some small streams of water crossing the track and sitting in the kerbs to keep riders on their toes during MotoGP’s first laps since 2019.

Fabio Quartararo, whose title lead has been cut to just two points over Francesco Bagnaia after tyre pressure woes in Thailand, suffered an early out-of-the-seat moment before heading the timesheets during the middle stages.

The Frenchman was then demoted by Marc Marquez, winner of the 2019 round, who had some Ducati-style aero updates available on the front and rear of one of his RC213Vs.

Time to try something new.@marcmarquez93 9RUpU4RXYV

— Repsol Honda Team (@HRC_MotoGP) October 13, 2022

But the eight-time world champion focused on his standard machine as he slid 0.465s clear of Quartararo, with team-mate Pol Espargaro creating a rare Repsol Honda one-two soon after.

Marquez then gathered data on the new aero, including stabilising vertical rear vanes (seen on the Ducati since Silverstone, then briefly at Suzuki in Motegi) in the final ten minutes.

Meanwhile, newly married home star Miller sent his Ducati to the top on new soft tyres in the final minutes but lost out to Pramac’s Johann Zarco by 0.091s on the final lap.

Alex Marquez slotted into a surprise third for LCR Honda, ahead of Suzuki’s Alex Rins, Aprilia’s title contender Aleix Espargaro (who had been as low as 17th) and Gresini’s Enea Bastianini.

Marquez elected to remain on old tyres in seventh, ahead of Bagnaia, Fabio di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi. 

Quartararo was pushed to 12th (+0.8s) but was another to stick with used tyres.

Phillip Island is famous for some seagull scares, but there was also a wallaby on track during the opening minutes.

MotoGP begins a three-race title showdown with Yamaha’s reigning champion Fabio Quartararo and Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia separated by just two points heading into Phillip Island.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro also gained ground on Quartararo in Buriram to sit 20-points drift, with Enea Bastianini (-39) and home star Jack Miller (-40) – the highest scoring rider in the last three races – also still in world championship contention.

After roller-coaster fortunes for the top three in recent rounds, the Phillip Island weather could throw up yet more turmoil during what is the first Australian MotoGP since 2019, due to previous covid restrictions.

Joan Mir will be back for Suzuki, while Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow returns to the scene of his 2016 victory as he starts the second half of an unexpected MotoGP return at RNF.

Takaaki Nakagami remains absent after needing a skin graft on his injured hand, with countryman and Honda test rider Tetsuta Nagashima again taking his place at LCR Honda.

As with the other end of season ‘flyaways’, absent since 2019, ten of the full time riders have no prior MotoGP experience at Phillip Island: Brad Binder, Alex Marquez, Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini and Luca Marini, plus this year’s rookies Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio di Giannantonio, Darryn Binder, Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez.

2022 Australia MotoGP – Full race weekend schedule (UK time)

Thursday 12th/Friday 13th October

23:00 – 23:40pm (Thu) Moto3 FP1

23:55 – 00:40am (Thu/Fri) MotoGP FP1

00:55 – 01:35am (Fri) Moto2 FP1

03:15 – 03:55am (Fri) Moto3 FP2

04:10 – 04:55am (Fri) MotoGP FP2

05:10 – 05:50am (Fri) Moto2 FP2

Friday 13th/Saturday 14th October

23:00 – 23:40pm (Fri) Moto3 FP3

23:55 – 00:40am (Fri/Sat) MotoGP FP3

00:55 – 01:35am (Sat) Moto2 FP3 

02:35 – 02:50am (Sat) Moto3 Q1

03:00 – 03:15am (Sat) Moto3 Q2

03:30 – 04:00am (Sat) MotoGP FP4

04:10 – 04:25am (Sat) MotoGP Q1

04:35 – 04:50am (Sat) MotoGP Q2

05:10 – 05:25am (Sat) Moto2 Q1

05:35 – 05:50am (Sat) Moto2 Q2

Saturday 14th/Sunday 15th October

23:00 – 23:10pm (Sat) Moto3 Warm Up

23:20 – 23:30pm (Sat) Moto2 Warm Up

23:40 – 00:00pm (Sat) MotoGP Warm Up

01:00am (Sun) Moto3 Race

02:20am (Sun) Moto2 Race

04:00am (Sun) MotoGP Race