Martin flies to record-breaking pole

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 21 October 2023

No one could compete with Jorge Martin as he blitzed qualifying with a record-breaking lap to take pole position for today’s 2023 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

Martin’s 1:27.246 was not only four tenths clear of his nearest rival Brad Binder, but it was a huge half a second clear of the previous Phillip Island lap record also set by the Pramac Ducati rider last year.

Francesco Bagnaia pulled off an impressive comeback from the tense knockout Q1 to third position to join Martin and Binder on the front row.

Australia’s Jack Miller will start eighth having exchanged some heated hand gestures with fourth-placed Aleix Espargaro.

Martin led the entire session and is predicting a “long race” this afternoon after recording his 12th MotoGP pole and second in a row at Phillip Island

“It was a nice lap and the pace is really good,” he said.

“Hopefully it will make a difference in the race.

“It will be a long race because we don’t have a lot of information about how the front and rear tyres will degrade, but we will try to manage.”

Qualifying 1

Francesco Bagnaia got a front row the hard way by topping Q1. Photo by Gold and Goose / LAT Images

The likes of Bagnaia, Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo and nine others were forced to fight for just two spots.

Bagnaia set the first flyer with a 1:28.784, which was three tenths better than the rest, but he was not the only rider to fly.

Marquez was also on a fast lap and jumped the #1 but it was Fernandez who had the top pace, going fastest with a 1:28.435.

Bagnaia had an immediate response to beat his Repsol Honda rival, but it was not enough to overcome the Tech3 GasGas rider.

Fernandez enjoyed a tenth on Bagnaia and Marquez as the riders dived into the pits.

The riders unleashed in the fight for survival with three minutes to go and all were on a Medium front and Soft rear combination.

The top three were all on personal bests but they had to contend with a significant amount of traffic from Siberia to Lukey Heights.

Despite this Bagnaia delivered, recording a 1:28.160 to go almost three tenths clear of the rest as both Fernandez and Marquez pulled out.

Bagnaia was unchallenged at the top when the chequered flag fell, but Marquez left it late, jumping from third to second with his final lap.

The #93 came within 0.077s of Bagnaia to knockout Augusto Fernandez and beat brother Alex Marquez to survive for the fight for pole.

Quartararo could not find top speed on the Yamaha and will start down in 16th.

Qualifying 2

Brad Binder showed strong speed to get second for KTM. Photo by Gold and Goose / LAT Images

Martin made his intentions clear by recording a 1:27.869 with his opening lap, which was at the time the best time this weekend.

He was the only rider in the 1:27s window after the opening flyers with Binder and Bagnaia in behind.

The #89 kept on charging, going 0.023s faster on the following attempt.

This meant Martin enjoyed two tenths on his nearest rival Binder as Bagnaia was the only other rider within half a second.

Miller emerged eighth, eight tenths down after the opening stanza while Marc Marquez was the only rider not to go out, making sure he could save his fresh tyres for the death.

With four minutes to go all 11 riders hit the track to chase pole and both Bagnaia and Marquez took a long lap at Miller Corner to break free from the congested pack.

Many were on personal best first sectors but once again it was Martin, who was going at breakneck speed.

Despite experiencing some wild speed wobbles on the exit of the final corner, the Spaniard improved by six tenths to make pole well and truly his with a record breaking lap.

The top three positions remained unchanged as Binder retained second with a strong lap to edge out Bagnaia but both were more than four tenths away from the #89.

Espargaro and Johann Zarco completed the top five, while Miller remained in eighth and was not happy with the Aprilia rider.

Vinales was the last rider to record a time but he could only manage ninth, which relegated Bezzecchi to 10th.

The 2023 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix begins at 15.10 AEDT today with the Sprint pushed back to Sunday due to inclement weather forecast for Sunday.

Photo by Gold and Goose / LAT Images

2023 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix grid

2023 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix schedule

Saturday, October 21
12:50-13:30	Moto3		Qualifying
13:45-14:25	Moto2		Qualifying
15:10-16:00	MotoGP	27 Laps	Race
Sunday, October 22
09:40-09:50	MotoGP		Warm Up
11:00-11:35	Moto3	21 Laps	Race
12:15-12:55	Moto2	23 Laps	Race
14:00-15:15	MotoGP	13 Laps	Sprint

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION or subscribe HERE

Latest podcast: It’s one with the lot!

We cover so much ground this week you would think we were on the amazing race. PG is ill so Andrew and Bruce go through the topics of the week and the sensor button gets another run.