Phillip Island (Australia), Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Reigning world champion Marc Marquez put on a brilliant performance to recover from a crash and surged to the pole position in the qualifying stage of the Grand Prix of Australia, the next stage of MotoGP 2026, on Saturday.
Marquez took pole by a 1.494s margin, the biggest pole position margin since the 2019 Czech Grand Prix. It was vintage Marc Marquez as he came back strongly despite a Turn 4 crash. The Ducati Lenovo Team star took pole again on Saturday as the reigning World Champion sailed to a phenomenal Saturday morning P1 on a damp, tricky course at Phillip Island.
Running the #93 closest in a Q2 thriller was Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), and 1.503s away from Marc Marquez’s 1:34.203 in P3 was Q1 graduate Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) as World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) spearheads the second row ahead of an unmissable Tissot Sprint near Melbourne in Australia.
On a damp but drying Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Zarco set the initial benchmark time, leading home hero Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) by 0.620s. Zarco’s time was the best of the day straight out of the gate, a 1:36.557, with Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) an early P3. The gap to the Q2 promotion places was 0.6s for the Italian, though, before Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) moved into P3, 0.4s shy of Miller’s top two effort.
That changed again though when Pecco got to within two tenths of Miller on his next flyer, and then another improvement saw the double MotoGP World Champion shove Miller out of the top two. A flurry of fast times were then fired in though as Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), then Miller, flew to P1, before Zarco then improved again to shuffle the South African back out of the top two.
And so it was, in the end, the two pre-session favourites who sailed their way into Q2 on the Island. 0.001s separating Miller and Zarco heading into the pole position shootout.
Q2: CRASH, SECOND BIKE, POLE
And just when a dry line was beginning to appear, the rain began to fall once more. The stakes couldn’t have been higher at the start of Q2, and on his first flying lap, having dominated FP2, Marc Marquez crashed at Miller Corner. A classic front-end tuck, no chance of the reigning World Champion saving it, and the #93 had to head back out on his second bike with conditions worsening.
Meanwhile, Zarco sat on provisional pole position by less than a tenth, then 0.5s, with Alex Marquez the only rider within a second of the Frenchman. But for how long? Because Marc Marquez set one, then two, and then a third red sector. And across the line, surprise surprise, the 2025 World Champion climbed to P1. Classy.
Now, the pressure was piled back onto Aprilia Racing. With four minutes to go, Marco Bezzecchi was sixth and the World Championship leader, Martin, was down in 10th. Desperately needing a lap, Martin climbed to P4 as Marc Marquez then slipped to P2 after Zarco chucked in a 1:35.706, and then it was P3 for Marc Marquez as Miller delighted the home faithful with a lap good enough for provisional P2.
The seven-time MotoGP World Champion then delivered a showstopper. 1.4s quicker than anyone else, Marc Marquez put pole position well out of sight of anyone, with younger brother Alex Marquez pouncing up to a late P2.
Source: IANS
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