Qualifying, Phillip Island: Marc Marquez crashed but left the field in the dust

For days, the threat of a change in the weather had been one of the talking points in the GP paddock – and that threat became a reality. On Saturday, soft wet tyres were fitted on the racing island. First for the second free practice session, then for the two qualifying sessions.

With lap times around ten seconds slower, it was Marc Marquez who, in FP2, had taken nearly a second off the competition. Acosta, Martin, Bezzecchi and Johann Zarco were best placed to keep up with the world champion, whilst Jack Miller, in eighth place, also demonstrated his skills on a wet track. As had been feared, the session took place with a further reduced field of riders. Honda had to withdraw Luca Marini from the Australian Grand Prix due to illness.

Before the battle for the best starting positions began, the first qualifying session had to determine which two riders would progress to Q2. For a long time, Johann Zarco looked like the favourite, as the Frenchman had already impressed in FP2. And it was also the LCR rider who immediately took the lead in Q1 on a soft rear rain tyre, followed by Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia.

As there was no rain falling and the track was beginning to dry out, KTM rider Binder and Australian hero Miller, amongst others, opted for a medium-rain tyre combination in the final session. A good idea. Binder jumped from last to first place, then Jack Miller pushed the fastest time down to 1:35.461 mins. Zarco had also changed tyres again, but opted for ‘soft’ once more. Much to the relief of the Honda camp, he managed to edge past Binder once more. This meant that Australian Miller and Johann Zarco were confirmed as the other participants in the decisive and final MotoGP qualifying session at Phillip Island.

As the top 12 MotoGP riders took to the track, it began to rain again. Marc Marquez was one of the first riders out on track. ‘MM93’ went on the attack straight away – and crashed in Turn 4. Not only did the world champion have to return to the pits, but the first flying laps of the chasing pack were also cancelled under yellow flags.

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Phillip Island: Qualifying Moto2

MotoGP World Championship

24.10.2026 - 04:40

At the top of the timesheets was Johann Zarco, ahead of Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio, followed by Moreira, Bezzecchi and Acosta. Meanwhile, Marquez had made it back to the garage and immediately set off again on his spare bike. After a warm-up lap, the Spaniard did better. With six minutes still on the clock, the Lenovo rider fought his way right to the front!

Martin was in the pits; up to this point, he had only managed the tenth-fastest time. Martin and Bezzecchi did everything they could to improve their positions. World Championship third-place finisher Marco Bezzecchi was on a good lap but then got stuck behind Diogo Moreira. ‘Bez’ had to cut the corner.

Not so for Johann Zarco. The Frenchman found a clear lap, clocked 1:35.706 and moved into first place, ahead of Marc Márquez and now Raúl Fernández. In the final two minutes, a number of sector bests emerged. First, Miller moved into second place, then came the world champion’s grand entrance. Marc Marquez seemed to block out the conditions. The seven-time MotoGP champion clocked a time of 1:34.203 minutes, making him just under 1.5 seconds faster than second place – which went to his brother Alex in the final session.

Johann Zarco defended his place on the front row in third. Championship leader Jorge Martin still managed to secure fourth place, ahead of crowd favourite Jack Miller and Raul Fernandez. Starting from the third row in ninth place was Marco Bezzecchi, who had set the pace on a dry track. The Italian will line up alongside KTM ace Pedro Acosta (7th) and VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio (8th) for the final two races on the island.