2024 Australian MotoGP: Marc Marquez leads wild practice, Jorge Martin crashes
Marquez leads a GP23 1-2-3 Friday’s only session
Marc Marquez led a frantic hour-long practice at the 2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix which saw championship leader Jorge Martin crash and a brief red flag.
After heavy rain cancelled the FP1 session this morning at Phillip Island, conditions had mercifully improved significantly for what would be the only MotoGP running of the day in the hour-long Practice.
Setting his stall out early in the session, Marquez would ultimately lead the way with a 1m27.770s from his Gresini team-mate Alex Marquez.
Championship leader Jorge Martin was fourth after suffering an early crash on his Pramac Ducati, while title rival Francesco Bagnaia trailed him in fifth.
Late crashes for Pedro Acosta and Jack Miller proved costly for them as they were dumped out of the Q2 places.
With the threat of rain looming over the Phillip Island circuit, the start to the hour-long afternoon session was busy as everyone pushed to get some knowledge of the new track surface and get a lap time on the board.
Marc Marquez set the early pace at 1m29.413s, while Martin crashed at Turn 4 when he made contact with the rear of Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha trying to avoid a bigger accident.
Miller would crash for the first time at the same corner - renamed in his honour last year - moments later when he ran wide onto the wet grass.
Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales took over at the top of the standings with 10 minutes of the session gone, the Spaniard setting a 1m29.383s.
However, Marquez would find his way to the top of the order soon after with a 1m29.020s. The red flags were flown a couple of minutes after this due to some wildlife on circuit.
The stoppage was brief, with KTM’s Miller quickly getting back up to speed with a 1m28.731s to go fastest of all with just under 35 minutes to go.
Marquez and Vinales would trade first place over the next 20 minutes, before the former cemented top spot with a 1m27.770s with eight minutes to go when he fitted a fresh soft rear tyre.
A late 1m27.872s from Alex Marquez pushed him up to second, while VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi was third to complete a GP23 1-2-3.
Martin was fourth on the first of the GP24s after his early spill, while Bagnaia completed the top five having looked scrappy in the opening half of the session.
Vinales was the only Aprilia to secure a direct Q2 place in sixth, with Brad Binder the only KTM in the top 10 after team-mate Miller crashed for a second time at the end of the session and Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta also fell.
Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46), Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli and Yamaha’s Alex Rins completed the top 10.
Quartararo did hold a place inside the top 10 as the chequered flag came out, but late improvements for others saw him shuffled into Q1 in 11th.
Johann Zarco was the top of the Hondas having been inside the top 10 for so long, while Enea Bastianini’s hopes of holding onto third in the standings look harder this weekend after ending Practice on his factory Ducati in 16th.
