MotoGP Australian GP: Marquez streaks ahead in sole Friday ...

Marc Marquez dominated a tense Friday Practice session for the Australian Grand Prix, leading his brother and Gresini Ducati team-mate Alex on the final timesheets.

MotoGP championship rivals Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia both booked their passages into Saturday’s Q2, though Bagnaia only posted his lap at the last-possible moment in a session that had its complications for both.

Among the big names who will have to fight it out in Q1 are Tech 3 KTM’s Pedro Acosta, who fell in the final minutes of the session, and Bagnaia’s factory Ducati team-mate Enea Bastianini.

Both Martin (Pramac Ducati) and Bagnaia spent quite some time staring at the prospect of missing out on Q2 as things went awry for them early in the session.

With dark clouds lurking in the vicinity of the island circuit, the onus was on getting early laps in whilst it was still dry. Given that these were the first laps any of the field were running on the resurfaced track following the cancellation of FP1, that was a difficult challenge.

Marc Marquez appeared to be untroubled by this ask, however, finding pace immediately and proceeding to spend most of the session at the top of the timing monitors despite a lengthy spell relaxing in the pits. He appeared able to reduce his times at will, with his 1,27.770s best from the session around half a second away from the all-time lap record.

Others, such as the title protagonists, had a harder time under the trying circumstances at the start of the session. Martin, in fact, fell before registering a time. The Spaniard dropped the Ducati under braking for Miller, seemingly caught in two minds about whether or not to squeeze past Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha.

Unhurt, Martin was able to return to the pits, but had an anxious wait as his mechanics made fixes to his bike.

Bagnaia, meanwhile, appeared to have a technical problem with his first bike and was stuck in exactly the same situation as Martin.

Then, once both of them were back on the circuit and up to speed, their laps were interrupted by a red flag. For the second time in Friday’s track activity, a Cape Barren goose wandering across the asphalt was the culprit.

Fortunately for the two title combatants, it turned out there had been no reason to panic as the feared rain failed to materialise before the end of the session. Martin was nonetheless up to speed faster than Bagnaia, and was up into the top 10 before the halfway mark. He looked secure there until the end of the session, shortly before which he narrowly escaped hitting a rabbit.

While Bagnaia snuck into the top 10 at the same stage, he struggled to establish himself there. Indeed, he had been bumped down to 12th by the time he emerged on brand new rubber for a final run with six minutes remaining.

Luckily for the reigning champion, he nailed a lap good enough for fourth with just three minutes on the clock. With a yellow flag out at Doohan following Lorenzo Savadori’s crash there, his chances of another flier would have been very limited at that stage.

Marco Bezzecchi was third-fastest for VR46 behind the Marquez brothers, making it three GP23 Ducatis leading the 2024 bikes of Martin and Bagnaia, who finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Maverick Vinales emerged sixth-quickest for Aprilia, with KTM’s Brad Binder seventh ahead of Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46).

Martin’s team-mate Franco Morbidelli was ninth, and Yamaha had something to celebrate as 2022 Phillip Island winner Alex Rins booked the last automatic Q2 slot in 10th.

Home rider Jack Miller will have to try again in Q1, after falling twice in Practice. He was 12th-fastest, just behind the other Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo.

Acosta showed good pace throughout the session and spent much of it in the top 10, but failed when it mattered. The Spaniard ploughed straight on at Miller during the final push for quick laps, and ended up 13th.

Last year's Australian GP winner Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) flirted with the top of the timesheets before dropping back to 14th ahead of Augusto Fernandez (Tech3 KTM) and Bastianini, who hit yellow flags on his flying lap.