It was Marc Marquez that took a comfortable pole position in Phillip Island 1ualifying. Cal Crutchlow took 2nd place and Pol Espargaro was 3rd, just ahead of his brother Aleix. Marquez’s usual rivals, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, had disasters.
First up was Q1 which saw four big names take part in Rossi, Lorenzo, Crutchlow and Maverick Vinales. The session started with the track being very wet but there was no rain currently falling meaning it was the last few minutes that were pivotal. Crutchlow was easily top ahead of Bradley Smith and Valentino Rossi, but when the riders came in before the last laps, tyre decision was crucial.
Most stuck with wets but Rossi put on an intermediate rear tyre, and Smith both front and rear, which did not work for either. Smith fell off the bike and Rossi did not improve his time so Lorenzo was able to jump ahead of both and sneak into Q2. Vinales also jumped ahead of Smith and Rossi to take 3rd, but did not get through and will start 13th. Behind Rossi was Eugene Laverty, Yonny Hernandez (who fell near the end of a lap that would’ve put him through), Alvaro Bautista, home hero Mike Jones, Loris Baz and Tito Rabat.
Q2 was a tale of two halves. Riders first went out on the Intermediate tyres but after an out lap, Marc Marquez, Jack Miller and Danilo Petrucci came straight in for slicks. Those who stayed out had the comfort of setting a banker lap time with the clouds looking very dark above. Cal Crutchlow continued his form from Q1 and went top before Andrea Dovizioso went top, but it was clear that the track was ready for slicks as the rain that was looming was not actually coming.
Marquez went miles clear at the top on his second flying lap and just went faster and faster in the rest of the session. Other riders came in for slicks and the last few minutes saw all the positions decided. Crutchlow gained best of the rest with it looking like Jack Miller would make it a Honda 1-2-3. However, in the dying moments, the Espargaro brothers took third and fourth ahead of Miller, with Pol in third and Aleix in fourth.
Interestingly, Crutchlow only fitted a slick rear tyre and kept an Intermediate front. Maybe with slick-slick, he could’ve at least challenged Marquez.
Behind Miller, Petrucci took sixth with Honda replacement Nicky Hayden taking a solid seventh, Stefan Bradl was eighth for Aprilia ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and Hector Barbera, both on the factory Ducati. Scott Redding was a disappointing 11th and Jorge Lorenzo was 12th, 6.6 seconds off the pole time as he seemingly had no confidence when he changed onto the slicks.
