MARTIN SNEAKS TO AUSGP POLE WITH RECORD TIME – Auto Action
Pramac Racing Ducati daredevil Jorge Martin will start the 2022 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix from pole position after sneaking ahead of his rivals with some record-smashing pace.
Martin edged ahead of Marc Márquez by just 0. 013s in the nail-biting fight for rod by breaking a lap record which has stood for almost a decade.
The 1: 27. 767 set by the #89 Spaniard smashed the previous qualifying lap record set by Jorge Lorenzo almost nine years ago simply by more than a tenth of a second.
Joining Martin and Marquez on the front row is Ducati’s championship hope Francesco Bagnaia, while Australians Jack Miller plus Remy Gardner will start tomorrow’s race from P8 and P19 respectively.
Lorenzo’s lap in his 2013 championship winning season was the longest standing track record yet to be broken on the particular MotoGP calendar, and Matn said it was a nice feeling to break the benchmark after taking some time to unlock the secrets of the Phillip Island circuit.
“This will be amazing, ” he said in the post-session interview.
“He (Jorge) won’t be super happy, but it is usually time in order to beat those records because the bikes are the lot faster.
“Yesterday was a bit hard because the track is so fast (because) it is definitely my first time here I had to take the measurements, yet today I had good pace and feel strong for competition. ”
Marc Marquez, Jorge Martin plus Francesco Bagnaia will begin the 2022 Australian Motorbike Grand Tarifs from the front side row. Photo by Gold and Goose / LAT Images)
It was Martin’s third pole from the year and 1st since Austin 14 rounds ago.
The #89 Ducati stormed to the top of the timesheets with two minutes to go, being the particular first in order to go beneath the one: 28. 0 barrier.
Martin had shown early speed by knocking off Marco Bezzecchi, who set the initial benchmark before Bagnaia just bested his fellow Ducati rider by 0. 058s.
Marquez was your sole factory Repsol Honda Q2 representative and looked to be going even faster as he entered Lukey Heights.
However, the #93 rider had to perform a miraculous save right after he lost the front end and went off in order to the infield at the particular exit of turn 10.
Marquez experienced no choice but to abort a flying panel, which was upon course for pole and regather their thoughts within the pits before the final dash at the death.
Once everyone put on the fresh set of tyres for the final run, Bagnaia led a five-bike train which included Marquez.
But behind them Martin flew through the final sector plus with two minutes to go he blazed to P1 which he did not relinquish with regard to the remainder of the particular session.
Marquez and Bagnaia both did their best, but fell simply short, whilst Aleix Espargaro managed to split the top 2 championship contenders with Fabio Quartararo forced to settle for fifth, two spots behind his Ducati nemeses.
Despite recording the second highest top speed, Miller struggled to match the consistency of all those ahead and will start from P8, 0. 349s back from rod.
No one could keep up with the electric pace of Jorge Martin in today’s MotoGP qualifying session at Phillip Island. Picture by Precious metal and Goose / BEKV?M Images)
Before the particular big boys fought regarding pole, Qualifying started along with a tense opening segment where five riders kept firing shots to snare the 2 spots available to progress into Q2.
Johann Zarco held the high ground early being a tenth plus a half up on Enea Bastianini after the earlier runs, while Suzuki’s Joan Mir has been just 1 hundredth at the rear of the very best two.
Young Aussie Remy Gardner impressed in order to sit within the top five of Q1 after the first flurry of laps.
Sitting outside the best two, Mir and Pol Espargaro both displaced Zarco and Bastianini with four minutes to visit.
The 2020 MotoGP world champion then went to go actually better on his next lap, but pushed too hard and proceeded to go off at Siberia.
Both Mir and Pol Espargaro spent the particular final 2 minutes within the pits and could only watch on because both Zarco and Alex Rins displaced them from your top two at the death.
Zarco and Rins joined the particular top ten in the fight for pole and will start from sixth and 10th on the particular grid respectively.
After getting Turn 4 named right after him, Callier will try in order to score the magical win from P8, while fellow Aussie Gardner is down in the seventh row.
But they are all trying to catch Martin, who became the particular fastest driver ever around Phillip Island and can begin tomorrow’s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix from pole position.
The MotoGP race will start in 14: 00pm Sunday afternoon.
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