MotoGP qualifying in Australia: collision, kangaroo and Bezzecchi’s fastest lap!

Under sunny skies and summery temperatures, the MotoGP riders got underway for the 60-minute free practice session at Phillip Island. Honda works rider Luca Marini was absent due to a viral infection – the Italian will miss the rest of the race weekend and will not return to action until Sepang at the earliest. As a result, the Honda works team can pack up early. No replacement had been nominated for Joan Mir.

In FP1 this morning, Ducati factory rider Marc Marquez had set the pace. The defending champion was the only rider to break the 1:28 mark, setting the fastest time of 1:27.985.

Incidents at the start of qualifying

Qualifying got off to a turbulent start. After just six minutes, local hero Jack Miller went down over his front wheel at Turn 6. The Australian continued riding his visibly damaged Yamaha to return to the Pramac pit, scattering stones from the front fairing onto the track in the process.

Jack Miller: Zwei Stürze zum Auftakt des Phillip Island-GP

Foto: Gold and Goose

Just two minutes later, a bizarre collision whilst braking for Turn 4 brought out the red flags. Aprilia works rider Marco Bezzecchi had positioned himself in Turn 3 to attempt an overtaking manoeuvre on Gresini Ducati rider Alex Marquez. When Marquez moved slightly inwards before Turn 4, the motorbikes made contact. This caused the fairing on Bezzecchi’s Aprilia to be torn off.

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Phillip Island: International Stream

MotoGP World Championship

23.10.2026 - 23:35

The Italian crashed at low speed and became trapped under his motorbike. Track marshals had to free him. Marquez signalled to Bezzecchi that he did not consider himself at fault. The race stewards investigated the incident but did not impose any penalties. After a brief interruption, qualifying resumed.

Second interruption: a kangaroo on the track

After the session resumed, World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia) took the lead with the fastest lap of the weekend so far, clocking 1:27.902. But just a few minutes later, the session was interrupted again: a kangaroo hopped across the track.

After the second interruption, Marc Márquez improved the fastest time to 1:27.615 mins. But Marco Bezzecchi responded with a lap of 1:27.374 mins to take the lead. The Aprilia rider then improved on that with a time of 1:27.335 minutes.

Marc Marquez schoss ins Q2

Foto: Gold and Goose

Shortly before the halfway point, Pramac stand-in rider Augusto Fernández crashed at Turn 11 and slid into the gravel trap. It was already the third crash of the day for the Yamaha team. Team manager Gino Borsoi looked understandably fed up.

KTM works rider Pedro Acosta took to the track 20 minutes before the end of the practice session on fresh soft tyres and moved to the top of the timesheets with a time of 1:27.208. Fabio di Giannantonio slotted into third place behind Acosta and Bezzecchi and was the fastest Ducati rider at that stage.

Gresini’s stand-in rider, Iker Lecuona, was also quick. Last season’s Superbike World Championship runner-up held his own in the top 10, just six tenths of a second off the fastest time. With 13 minutes remaining in the qualifying session, the Spaniard had a moment of panic at Turn 1 and was forced to swerve into the tarmac run-off area. As the session progressed, Lecuona slipped out of the top 10. He went on to finish the session in 16th place, 1.065 seconds off the pace.

Marc Marquez becomes the first rider to clock a 1:26 lap time

Ten minutes before the end of the session, the times started to drop. Alex Márquez moved to the top of the timesheets, but was overtaken shortly afterwards by his brother Marc. The clock stopped at 1:27.114 mins. On his second timed lap, the world champion improved to 1:26.901 mins.

On Friday, Marquez’s factory Ducati featured new aero elements on the swingarm, strongly reminiscent of the Aprilia design. Trackhouse-Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez slotted in between the Marquez brothers to take second place.

Raul Fernandez: Platz 2 im Zeittraining

Foto: Gold and Goose

Two minutes before the end of qualifying, Alex Marquez caused yellow flags in Turn 4. The Spaniard had crashed whilst braking for the right-hand corner. The two Trackhouse riders were quick: Raul Fernandez took the lead, whilst Ai Ogura slotted into third place. But Marco Bezzecchi stepped it up: the Italian clocked a time of 1:26.775 and held on to the top spot.

Qualifying ended with an Aprilia one-two: Bezzecchi ahead of Fernández. Marc Márquez finished third ahead of two more Aprilias. During the practice start after qualifying had finished, Márquez stalled his Desmosedici and came to a halt at the side of the track.

Championship leader Jorge Martin was the slowest of the four Aprilia riders, finishing fifth. Alex Marquez slipped down to sixth place. Enea Bastianini was the best-placed KTM rider in seventh. His team-mate Pedro Acosta was just a few thousandths of a second slower and finished eighth. Also qualifying directly for Q2 were LCR Honda rider Diogo Moreira and VR46 Ducati rider Fabio di Giannantonio.

Johann Zarco (LCR-Honda), who celebrated his first MotoGP victory at Phillip Island, narrowly missed out on the top 10. Local hero Jack Miller will also have to compete in Q1 on Saturday. However, in twelfth place, Miller was the fastest Yamaha rider. Qualifying proved disappointing for Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), who finished only 14th. A total of three Ducati riders will have to compete in Q1 on Saturday.