The Australian Grand Prix Qualifying, which took place this afternoon at Phillip Island, lasted only three laps for Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini riders, Alvaro Bautista and Scott Redding: respectively 14th and 12th in the combined classification of the first three free practice sessions, both rider had to take part in the 15-minute Q1, that, however, was interrupted by a light rain just after their first fast lap attempt.

In his second flying lap Scott Redding got a good 1’30”280, ending the Qualifying 1 in third place, missing the access in Q2 for only a tenth of a second: the British rookie then will line-up his Honda RCV1000R on the fifth row of the grid, in thirteenth place.

His teammate Alvaro Bautista, who tomorrow will take part in his 200th Grand Prix, will start from the sixth row with the 17th fastest time: in his only attempt, the Spaniard was not able to go beyond 1’30”635, still slowed down by rear grip issues.

ALVARO BAUTISTA (17th - 1'30"635)

“Today I had the same feeling of the whole weekend: there is no rear grip, I can’t feel the rear tyre and as a result I cannot push hard. Whether we use a new tyre or used, the situation doesn’t change. Honestly, even if the rain had not stopped play in Qualifying 1, I don’t think that we could improve and try to get into Q2. Unfortunately the tyres available for this race are very hard and we are not able to make them work properly. Too bad, this is certainly not the best way to celebrate my 200th Grand Prix, but that’s racing. Tomorrow we will give our best, as always, even though we will have to suffer”.

SCOTT REDDING (13th - 1'30"280)

“After FP4 I was really happy because we used the harder tyre and it was pretty good, then in Qualifying it was not difficult, but I didn’t use the full potential of the softer tyre: actually I was faster in T1 during FP4 with the harder one than I was in the Qualifying. Also, I didn’t have other riders in front of me, I was completely alone, and in Qualifying having someone in the distance to catch always helps. I lost a little bit there and normally I go faster in my second attempt, but we didn’t get it because of the rain. Therefore I’m a little disappointed, I think that 1’29”9 or 1’29”8 was possible. Anyway I’m quite happy with the set-up now, we struggled a little bit yesterday but today we managed to be back in the fight. We look forward to tomorrow’s race, when we will try to be the first Open Class Honda. Also, we are quite a lot faster than Alvaro, so maybe we can beat him tomorrow if we can use the harder option, and maybe some of the other Factory guys”.

Qualifying Results

1Marc MarquezRepsol Honda Team1'28.408
2Cal CrutchlowDucati Team1'28.642
3Jorge LorenzoMovistar Yamaha MotoGP1'28.650
4Bradley SmithMonster Yamaha Tech 31'28.656
5Dani PedrosaRepsol Honda Team1'28.675
6Aleix EspargaroNGM Forward Racing1'28.866
7Andrea IannonePramac Racing1'28.887
8Valentino RossiMovistar Yamaha MotoGP1'28.956
9Pol EspargaroMonster Yamaha Tech 31'28.968
10Andrea DoviziosoDucati Team1'29.088
11Stefan BradlLCR Honda MotoGP1'29.155
12Hiroshi AoyamaDrive M7 Aspar1'29.955
13Scott ReddingGO&FUN Honda Gresini1'30.280
14Hector BarberaAvintia Blusens1'30.348
15Nicky HaydenDrive M7 Aspar1'30.542
16Karel AbrahamCardion AB Motoracing1'30.569
17Alvaro BautistaGO&FUN Honda Gresini1'30.635
18Yonny HernandezPramac Racing1'30.729
19Danilo PetrucciIodaRacing Project1'30.812
20Mike Di MeglioAvintia Blusens1'31.431
21Michael LavertyPaul Bird Motorsport1'31.492
22Broc ParkesPaul Bird Motorsport1'31.730
23Alex De AngelisNGM Forward Racign1'32.595

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