#AustralianGP | Maverick Vinales dominates to conquer pole position!
Maverick Vinales was the man to beat in Australia and he did not disappoint the prediction; the Spaniard took a stunning pole position ahead of a superb Fabio Quartararo and Marc Marquez, while Valentino Rossi ended 4th
At the end, after a chaotic Saturday, we had even a Sunday that was even more chaotic than yesterday, but luckily weather conditions were good enough to have MotoGP qualifying session after Warm Up one. Not the ideal situation for the major part of the riders, but surely a really fun one for the fans who were watching, considering that qualifying session is just four hours before the race.
Q1 was a thrilling moment as long as we had Fabio Quartararo ready to shine after the crash had on Friday that forced him to not ride on that day, but that meant Fabio did not have a good time to join Q2 immediately, so he had to face a complicate first session of qualifying where also Johann Zarco wanted to show his skills in his comeback Grand Prix.
French rookie from Yamaha was the main candidate to get top spot in Q1 and so it was, with Petronas rider who made an impressive difference from the others, riding under the 1.29 (the only one able to do it) putting himself on top of the table of the first session of qualifying. In a first moment it seemed that Johann Zarco could join his compatriot, but Andrea Iannone was really good on taking benefit from Quartararo’s slipstream and made a fast lap to put himself in second just behind Q1 leader.
1 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | FRA | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | 337.5 | 1'28.949 | |
2 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 339.6 | 1'29.555 | 0.606 / 0.606 |
3 | 36 | Joan MIR | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 339.6 | 1'29.712 | 0.763 / 0.157 |
4 | 5 | Johann ZARCO | FRA | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | Honda | 340.7 | 1'30.008 | 1.059 / 0.296 |
5 | 63 | Francesco BAGNAIA | ITA | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 341.8 | 1'30.075 | 1.126 / 0.067 |
6 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Reale Avintia Racing | Ducati | 346.1 | 1'30.165 | 1.216 / 0.090 |
7 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | SPA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 341.8 | 1'30.180 | 1.231 / 0.015 |
8 | 82 | Mika KALLIO | FIN | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 335.4 | 1'30.495 | 1.546 / 0.315 |
9 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 338.6 | 1'31.179 | 2.230 / 0.684 |
10 | 55 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | MAL | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | KTM | 330.3 | 1'31.285 | 2.336 / 0.106 |
11 | 53 | Tito RABAT | SPA | Reale Avintia Racing | Ducati | 334.4 | 1'31.941 | 2.992 / 0.656 |
Main candidate for pole position was then Maverick Vinales after being impressively fast during free practices and he did not disappoint us; the Spaniard was fast from the first minutes of the session being able to made an impressive rhythm and a stunning fast lap which projected him on top of the table and no one snatched him that first position, with “Top Gun” who even improved his lap time in his last attempts of qualifying.
Fabio Quartararo gave everything to get another pole position but did not manage to do it despite a stunning last lap where he tried to steal Vinales’ pole position, but the French had to give up and finish in second, a fantastic result overall anyway considering that on Friday he did not even take part of FP2! First row is completed by Marc Marquez, who will start from 3rd alongside Yamahas.
A good qualifying for Valentino Rossi as well, with the Italian who put himself in 4th opening second row with a fast last attempt, followed by Danilo Petrucci and Cal Crutchlow, with Aprilia duo who will start from 7th and 8th with Aleix Espargaro ahead of his teammate Andrea Iannone. Home hero Jack Miller is 9th followed by Andrea Dovizioso, Franco Morbidelli and Alex Rins.
1 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | SPA | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 339.6 | 1'28.492 | |
2 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | FRA | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | 337.5 | 1'29.043 | 0.551 / 0.551 |
3 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 340.7 | 1'29.216 | 0.724 / 0.173 |
4 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 338.6 | 1'29.243 | 0.751 / 0.027 |
5 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 342.9 | 1'29.339 | 0.847 / 0.096 |
6 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | LCR Honda CASTROL | Honda | 346.1 | 1'29.535 | 1.043 / 0.196 |
7 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 341.8 | 1'29.558 | 1.066 / 0.023 |
8 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 344.0 | 1'29.581 | 1.089 / 0.023 |
9 | 43 | Jack MILLER | AUS | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 346.1 | 1'29.615 | 1.123 / 0.034 |
10 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 345.0 | 1'29.667 | 1.175 / 0.052 |
11 | 21 | Franco MORBIDELLI | ITA | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | 336.5 | 1'29.716 | 1.224 / 0.049 |
12 | 42 | Alex RINS | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 342.9 | 1'29.947 | 1.455 / 0.23 |