‘Hard’ Jorge Martin leaves rivals on the ropes in Phillip Island MotoGP qualifying

MotoGP title leader Jorge Martin left his rivals reeling by blasting to pole position by 0.594s in tricky conditions at Phillip Island on Saturday.

The Pramac Ducati rider, who starts this weekend 10 points clear of Francesco Bagnaia, was the only rider to fit the hard front slick from the start of Q2 - despite cold temperatures and damp patches from earlier rain.

Martin’s pole lap was just 0.050s from his own circuit record, set last season.

Bagnaia and factory Ducati team-mate Enea Bastianini made the switch to the hard front for their final run. However, it was practice leader Marc Marquez who got closest to Martin as he romped to a third successive Australian MotoGP pole position

“For sure it was tricky,” Martin said. “The track was drying quite fast so we didn't know what to expect from the track. 

"When I went out, I saw everything was dry, just some small damp patches and also a lot of wind.

“I was able to improve a lot on that second run and I'm really happy to make another pole position here. It's fantastic. Three in a row in MotoGP. 

"For sure the races will be tough. We have a strong Marc behind me, but I think we are the best in terms of pace. So let's go for a good one.”

Martin was a massive 0.2s faster than the rest of the field through the first Sector, Turns 1 and 2, and also the quickest in Sectors 3 and 4.

Marquez was 0.031s ahead of Martin in Sector 2, pulling off some huge slides through Stoner corner. The eight-time world champion had predicted that Martin would be the rider to watch out for on Saturday.

“Already last year he was super fast here, just he missed the race because of the rear tyre choice. But yesterday I said Martin would be fast because I saw his data and he was riding in a very good way,” Marquez said.

“We are on target. We are on the front row. We are improving that qualifying practice. In Motegi it was a good lap. Here was a good lap. So yeah, keep going and let's see.

“We don't know what we can do in the race because we don't know the pace. But I believe and I think that Martin will start good and he will be there on the top from the beginning.”

Completing the front row was Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, who lapped just 0.1s slower than Marquez, albeit with his best time set on the opening run.

“In the second attack I could not make one fast lap, I had slow riders in front,” he confirmed. 

“But I think I took the maximum again and this is good because in mixed conditions normally we struggle quite a lot and today we were able to be in the front row.

“So I'm quite happy and optimistic for the race because I think also in terms of rhythm, I can do many laps in a row and we'll see. I think we are well prepared for the sprint. For the long race, I don't know. But also in the wet was good.

“So we keep going. We know the level, we know our potential. It's just a matter of this other [Ducati] brand going in another level and we are trying to catch-up.”

Bagnaia was only the fourth-best Ducati rider in qualifying, salvaging fifth place on his final lap to start between VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi and Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez on the second row.

Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati), Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Alex Rins (Monster Yamaha) will form row three with Bastianini, KTM’s Brad Binder and Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46) rounding out the Q2 participants.

Luca Marini was the top Honda in 13th. Motegi pole qualifier Pedro Acosta and local star Jack Miller also didn’t progress past Qualifying 1, which saw the first slick laps of the day, and will start just 15th and 16th.

The first-ever Phillip Island MotoGP Sprint race, after last year’s cancellation, is due to start at 3pm local time.