Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has taken an incredible pole position – his 30th in MotoGP – as he chases his first win in the premier class at Phillip Island, but unfortunately teammate Dani Pedrosa was demoted from second to fourth in the dying seconds of qualifying.

Since yesterday’s FP2, Marc has led every session here in Phillip Island and immediately shot to the top on his first exit in qualifying. On his second run, Marc was on track to improve his time again however, a big moment in turn four – where he was lucky to save the bike from crashing – forced him back into the pits for new rubber for his final third exit. Marc delivered an incredible lap, improving his first run by three tenths with a time of 1’28.364 and securing pole position.

Dani found traffic on his first flying lap but was then able to get a fast lap in. On his second run, he improved by half a second and his time of 1’28.712 placed him second with just a handful of riders remaining. However, in the final moments, Lorenzo and Iannone crossed the line with identical times just 0.032 seconds ahead of Dani and relegated him to fourth.

Tomorrow’s race will begin at 16h00 local time.

Marc Marquez  - 1st - 1'28.364

"I am pleased with how the day went, and of course with pole position! Thanks to the team for all their work, we have a good pace for tomorrow and we are ready to fight for the podium and hopefully the victory tomorrow. However we must wait and see what happens, because here every day is different; it can be sunny but then all of a sudden clouds can appear, and the key will be interpreting how the track conditions are, in order to have a good race."

Dani Pedrosa - 4th - 1'28.712

"Today was a difficult day, especially in the morning. It was quite cold and very windy, and I had problems in FP3, which did not go well. FP4 went somewhat better, although my pace was still not amongst the fastest. However, in the qualifying session we managed to improve a lot, finally setting a good lap time and qualifying well."


1 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'28.364
2 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'28.680
3 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'28.680
4 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'28.712
5 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Honda 1'28.912
6 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1'28.932
7 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'29.014
8 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1'29.015
9 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'29.222
10 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'29.267
11 REDDING Scott 45 GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'29.499
12 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'29.626
13 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 1'29.918
14 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 1'30.064
15 MILLER Jack 43 AUS LCR Honda Honda 1'30.104
16 LAVERTY Eugene 50 IRE Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 1'30.105
17 HERNANDEZ Yonny 68 COL Pramac Racing Ducati 1'30.135
18 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'30.147
19 BAZ Loris 76 FRA Athina Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 1'30.173
20 HAYDEN Nicky 69 USA Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 1'30.376
21 BRADL Stefan 6 GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'30.634
22 DI MEGLIO Mike 63 FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 1'30.959
23 WEST Anthony 13 AUS AB Motoracing Honda 1'31.205
24 ELIAS Toni 24 SPA AB Motoracing Honda 1'31.837
25 CUDLIN Damian 55 AUS E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART 1'33.884