Miller bloodied, Marquez buoyant, Aussie legend's disappointment ...
On a Phillip Island day where not a lot made sense, Marc Marquez added some order to the chaos in a way that was as foreboding as it was predictable.
Friday at the Island had it all. Not even 24 hours after the sun beat down on one of the world’s most picturesque circuits, lashing rain and conditions better for boats than MotoGP bikes saw the opening practice session cancelled without a wheel turned.
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Geese – twice – and a rabbit escaped unscathed after using the on-track sessions as their preferred time to cross from the circuit’s outside to the inside in front of bikes capable of hitting 350km/h.
World championship protagonists Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia survived a scary moment early in the second practice session where they sat at the foot of the standings without a timed lap to their names as the skies darkened, rain threatening to return.
Aussie hope Jack Miller crashed, then led the session, then crashed again.
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It was unscripted mayhem that vacillated between comedy, drama and an action thriller, yet through it all, Marquez sailed serenely through to record Friday’s benchmark time in a way that his Australian CV suggested was possible, and that his record on anticlockwise tracks like the Island made no surprise.
Marquez – a master of finding the limit in sketchy conditions at any time – shot to the top of the times as soon as the session’s hot laps began in earnest, briefly relinquished his grip as his rivals found their limits, and re-emerged from the pits with fresher tyres and a right hand that dared to rip the throttle harder and harder.
With seven minutes remaining, a lap of 1min 27.770secs was more than enough. Enough to pip Gresini Ducati teammate and younger brother Alex Marquez, who came from 12th as his final lap started just before the chequered flag to slot in 0.102secs behind his older sibling. More than enough for Miller and GasGas rookie sensation Pedro Acosta, who crashed trying to match his searing pace. And enough for Martin and Bagnaia, which was understandable given the title-chasing pair have more to lose, and was in keeping with the contrasting records of the four riders still in mathematical contention with four rounds to go.
Martin bounced back to fourth, while Bagnaia was fifth and 0.046secs adrift, the title contenders split by little as they both progressed to Saturday’s crucial Q2 session, yet not in Marquez’s postcode. Bagnaia’s teammate Enea Bastianini, three points ahead of Marquez for third place in the standings, was his usual anonymous Phillip Island self back in 16th.
None of that trio have ever won in Australia, while Marquez has nearly as many crashes from the lead (two) as he has wins (three). Which adds further weight to the theory that while Marquez won’t win the title this year, he’ll have a say on this weekend more than any other in who might, no matter what the weather, his opponents or the local fauna might throw in his way.
It was Marquez first, Marquez second at Phillip Island on Friday. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)Source: AFPMARQUEZ CONFIDENT, BUT WARY OF MARTIN’S POTENTIAL
While Ducati’s GP24 machine has been the bike to beat this year – Martin, Bagnaia and Bastianini have shared 13 of the Borgo Panigale brand’s 15 victories between them – Marquez has made the difference when grip is low or the conditions are variable, victories on a slippery surface in Aragon and in Misano after a brief rain shower his standout performances.
Marquez has been the shining light of the four riders on Ducati’s year-old GP23 this season, but the top three on Friday’s timesheets were all on the GP23, with third-placed Marco Bezzecchi’s teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio, who will miss the final two rounds of the season for shoulder surgery, back in eighth.
Marquez felt the strong showing of the GP23 was more coincidental than a trend for the remainder of the Island weekend, acknowledging that Friday’s unusual circumstances played into his hands.
PIT TALK PODCAST: In the Australian GP preview episode of ‘Pit Talk’, Renita Vermeulen and Matt Clayton look ahead to a big weekend at Phillip Island that will have a significant say in the MotoGP title fight, and catch up with last year’s MotoGP race winner Johann Zarco.
“We can say that these were my conditions,” he said.
“Especially one of my strong points is to adapt well and quick to the conditions, and the fact we didn’t ride in FP1 [first practice] and went straight to practice, the grip of the track was improving a lot and you need to adapt quick.
“I feel good but I expect tomorrow that the step of the others, especially Martin, will be bigger.”
Marquez has wins in Australia in 2015, 2017 and 2019, and recorded his 100th MotoGP podium at the Island in 2022, a period where he was still recovering from a fourth arm operation after the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix crash that derailed his career.
That record has him confident for the remainder of the weekend, but with a caveat.
“It’s true that historically, it’s one of the circuits that I like and every year it has been more or less fast,” he said.
“But the bike has good grip, and of course the [new] asphalt helps. Tomorrow it will be about to understand that the rear tyre, where we will try to use the correct option for the race.”
At one of his strongest tracks and on a day of variables, Marquez stood out from the crowd. (Photo by Paul CROCK / AFP)Source: AFPLATE FALL LEAVES MILLER ON THE OUTER
Miller attended his media debriefs on Friday afternoon with a bandage on his right wrist after his high-speed fall at turn six towards the end of the session, where he was thankful for the Phillip Island gravel traps arresting his exit speed through one of the fastest parts of the 12-corner layout.
The KTM rider looked set for an automatic berth into Q2 for the majority of the session before losing control of his destiny late, a crash from Aprilia rider Lorenzo Savadori at the first corner thwarting his first late push for the top 10, and his fall minutes later seeing him tumble to 12th.
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“Not the Friday we’d anticipated, missing FP1 and then in FP2 I had good expectations for it and the pace felt good, but I mucked it up when it came to the lap time,” he said.
“I caught the yellow flag at Turn 1 with Savadori, and then the second lap I really got into it and it was good until I didn’t make it through sector two.
“There’s quite a bit of banking [at turn six] and I was going at a rapid rate of knots when she let go. Luckily the gravel pits here are in good condition and they pulled me up, but in the tumble I must have smacked my wrist … I didn’t even notice until I came back in the box and had blood all over my hand and little bit of a cut on my arm.
“I’m stiffer than I used to be, I don’t bounce like I used to ...”
Coming off one of his more competitive showings of what’s been a difficult final season at KTM in Japan, where he took top-10 results in the sprint race and Grand Prix proper, Miller felt advancing to Q2 was possible on Saturday morning to salvage a strong result from his home race weekend.
“The bike felt pretty decent, it’s always nice to ride some laps around the Island … even if it was patchy, it was fun,” he said.
“The new asphalt has plenty of grip – still plenty of bumps, but it’s really enjoyable.”
Of the four other Australians in action on Friday, Moto3 rider Joel Kelso was the only one to provisionally advance to Q2, the Darwin 21-year-old finishing 10th in practice for the lightweight class.
Compatriots Jacob Roulstone and Senna Agius, making their Australian GP debuts in Moto3 and Moto2 respectively, will need to hope the weather is conducive to improvements on Saturday morning after finishing Friday in 22nd and 15th in their categories, while Queensland 18-year-old Harrison Voight, on debut as an injury replacement for Preicanos Racing in Moto2, was one place behind Agius in 16th in the intermediate class.
Miller had good pace, but his late fall left him with work to do on Saturday. (Photo by Paul CROCK / AFP)Source: AFPDOOHAN DISAPPOINTED BY HONDA’S HORROR SHOW
Australian legend Mick Doohan says the freefall of Honda to become MotoGP’s doormat this season has been “disappointing”, as the Japanese factory has been cast adrift in the five-manufacturer fight for the sport’s top prizes.
Of the four Honda riders in this year’s world championship, Frenchman Johann Zarco (17th) sits highest in the standings, a bleak reality check for the brand after Marc Marquez walked away from the final year of a contract for 2024 to ride a year-old Ducati for Gresini Racing this season.
Doohan, at Phillip Island this weekend to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first of his five straight 500cc world titles for Honda in 1994, feels the pandemic-prompted pause to Japanese factories working through 2020-21 while Ducati, KTM and Aprilia continued developing in Europe is still being felt.
“I was with Honda for a long while, back when I was competing I stayed with Honda … more than anything, I was only doing one-year contracts because they were more committed to win than the other manufacturers as far as technical, the personnel, the whole support,” Doohan said.
“That’s why I remained there, so it’s disappointing to find them in this position where they’re at.
“I personally believe the pandemic put the Japanese manufacturers back a step – the European manufacturers continued to develop, whether that be electronically or in other areas.”
While Ducati has dominated this year’s title chase, winning 15 of 16 Grands Prix heading into Phillip Island, Doohan feels fellow Japanese struggler Yamaha – who has re-signed 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo, done deals with key Ducati technical personnel and is embarking on a radical shift to introducing a V4 engine design in lieu of its traditional inline-four configuration – shows that change is necessary to beat the European manufacturers at their own game.
“I think [Honda will] come back, but they need a change of mindset,” Doohan said.
“Yamaha seem to be taking good steps towards achieving this for next year, and I hope Honda will continue down that path as well. It’s good to have multiple brands competing for the championship.”
Honda has signed Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, who is retiring from full-time racing at the end of 2024, as its primary test and development rider next year, a move Doohan applauded after a year where Zarco’s ninth place in Indonesia in September is its only top-10 Grand Prix result all season.
“Having Aleix as a test rider is, I think, a good move,” Doohan said of the vastly experienced Spaniard.
“They need somebody who’s quick and seems to have an understanding of what the bike needs to move forward.”
Repsol Honda rider Luca Marini, who has scored just seven points in 31 starts this year to be last of the 22 regular riders in the series, said recent upgrades made to Honda’s RC213V introduced at a one-day test session after the San Marino Grand Prix are testament to Honda’s progress from a dreadful start to 2024.
“From the inside it’s different, the feeling,” Marini told the official MotoGP podcast ‘Last on the Brakes’.
“I know at the end of Sunday night, everybody always looks at the results and you always see yourself in the back, in not a fantastic area, but from the inside everything is different and I’ve felt a lot of improvements since the beginning of the season.
“The direction is very good, but still we need time because we are competing in the most difficult category in the world in the motorcycle world and competing with fantastic manufacturers.
“But we are Honda, and we will come back to the victory.”
Honda has fallen a long way from Doohan’s 90s heyday in recent times. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)Source: Getty ImagesEMOTIONAL APRILIA VETERAN HELPING CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER
Australia has never been the happiest hunting ground for Espargaro – in a MotoGP career that began in 2009, the Spanish rider has never finished better than eighth in a race here – but he admitted to being emotional on his final visit to Phillip Island as his long tenure in the world championship enters its final four races.
The 35-year-old announced at his home circuit in Catalunya in May that 2024 would be his last season of a career that began in the 125cc class 20 years ago, but filling his suitcase for the Australia-Thailand-Malaysia triple-header of races elicited a torrent of feelings.
“When I was packing to come here I realised that my career is ending, and I felt sadness,” he said ahead of his 252nd premier-class start this weekend.
“In previous events, except in Barcelona, I never thought about it and was just focused on the commitment on the track, but this time it is different because it will be my last long trip and I am emotional about it.”
Espargaro is close with championship leader and compatriot Jorge Martin – the 26-year-old Martin has regularly referenced Espargaro as being like an older sibling as he’s risen through the world championship ranks – and the riders are sharing a house at Phillip Island this weekend with Espargaro’s wife and children and Martin’s girlfriend as the Pramac Ducati rider tries to cope with the pressure of a title run-in, something he conceded he struggled with 12 months ago.
“I remember him very nervous [last year], now he is more experienced and trying to enjoy the moment more,” Espargaro said.
“He came here with his girlfriend and they are sharing a house with me. In 2023 he was too focused on the job, and sometimes that is worse. Now he is more relaxed and I hope he can win.”
