Phillip Island Day One Midday Report

It was a hot spring day that greeted competitors and team as they set-up for the weekend proceedings, but this morning it was overcast with intermittent drizzle.

Moto3 FP1

When the Moto3 riders went out at 0900 the track was very wet indeed. One of the first to fall victim to the conditions was local wild-card entrant Yanni Shaw. He was up uninjured but failed to register a time in the session. His fellow Double Six Motorsport wild-card and team-mate for the weekend Rogan Chandler managed seven laps with a best of 2m01.257s. 

Tony Arbolino topped Moto3 FP1 from fellow Honda rider rider Lorenzo Dalla Porta. Romano Fenati made it a Honda 1-2-3, Arbolino’s morning wet benchmark a 1m48.024s.

Moto2 FP1

Conditions were similar when Moto2 hit the track at 0940 and Remy Gardner quickly established himself as the man to beat.

The pace hotted up in the second half of the session and the young Australian was overhauled by Bulega, Bezzecchi, Chantra and Binder pushing him back to fifth with 20-minutes remaining in the 40-minute opening practice session.

Chantra then added his name to the long list of fallers in the treacherous conditions, immediately followed by Brit Jake Dixon. 

With three-minutes remaining in the session Gardner had slipped outside the top ten. The 21-year-old was then put in a last ditch effort to improve his standing before suffering a hefty fall at Hayshed. It was a big tumble, the front end ripping out of his machine, but the young Aussie, seemingly, escaped any major injuries.

Surviving the carnage to claim top spot for the morning was Jorge Martin, a 1m45.832 on his 16th and final lap of the session good enough to demote Bulega to P2.

MotoGP FP1

Jack Miller was quick out of the blocks when FP1 got underway and held sway at the top of the time-sheets for the opening ten-minutes of the session before Marc Marquez went quicker on lap six.

It was somewhat of a strange sight seeing Johann Zarco’s #5 on the front of an LCR Honda blasting around the circuit. The Frenchman was already looking quite comfortable.

Maverick Vinales then bested them both when he became the third man to lap under the 1m40s barrier. 1m39s on what was still a very wet track throwing up spray is hard to get your head around.

Vinales slithered a few of those 1m39s in, dropping another tenth here and there the 24-year-old Spaniard was putting on an exciting show. It is amazing to think Vinales is still that young, he already seems like somewhat of a MotoGP veteran. Halfway through the session he became the first to drop in a 1m38s, lowering the benchmark further.

While Vinales put in plenty of laps, most of MotoGP’s heavy hitters had been in their pit-box watching the show on their monitors. Marquez then went out as Vinales came in. 15 minutes later and Marquez had still not bested Vinales’ time.  Late in the session though Jack Miller improved and pushed the World Champion back to P3.

Valentino Rossi was on the improve though, up to fourth place.

Vinales went out with a few minutes remaining in the session and was immediately under his time through the first series of splits, only to be spoiled by traffic in the final section and failed to improve.

Nonetheless the Spaniard’s earlier benchmark proved good enough to hold sway and claim FP1 honours from Miller with Marquez third. Danilo Petrucci was P5 ahead of Franco Morbidelli.

Fabio Quartararo was seventh on the timesheets before throwing it away at turn six. The young Frenchman looked hurt and was carried away on a stretcher and sent to the medical centre.

Pol Espargaro took P8 ahead of fellow KTM rider Miguel Oliveira and the #4 Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the top ten, and thus the last provisional automatic entry to Q2 on Saturday afternoon. That could be crucial depending on what the weather does this afternoon, as by the forecast, Saturday could be very wet indeed…

2019 MotoGP Championship Standings

2019 Australian GP Schedule (AEDT)

Source: MCNews.com.au

This will be the 31st Australian Grand Prix, which has been held every year since the first visit in 1989.

The first two Australian Grands Prix were held at Phillip Island before MotoGP visited the Eastern Creek circuit for six successive years, returning to Phillip Island in 1997, which has been its home since. This is the 25th time that the Grand Prix has taken place at Phillip Island.

A total of 72 Grand Prix races for solo motorcycles have been held at Phillip Island since 1989 as follows: MotoGP —17, 500cc –7, Moto2 —9, 250cc –15, Moto3 —7 and 125cc –17.

Since the introduction of the MotoGP class in 2002, Honda have had eight Grand Prix wins in the class at Phillip Island including three victories in 2015 with Marc Marquez, 2016 with Cal Crutchlow and and 2017 with Marquez once again.

Ducati have had four MotoGP wins at Phillip Island, all of them with Casey Stoner from 2007 to 2010.

Andrea Iannone’s third place finish back in 2015 and Andrea Dovizioso’s third place finish last year are the only podium finishes for Ducati at Phillip Island since Stoner’s win in 2010.

Yamaha have won the MotoGP race at Phillip Island on five occasions, three with Valentino Rossi, one with Jorge Lorenzo and one with Maverick Viñales, which was last year. In addition, both Yamaha Factory riders finished on the podium in 2017 in Australia, with Valentino Rossi in second followed by Maverick Viñales. Johann Zarco crossed the line in fourth making it to three Yamaha riders within the top five.

All three podium finishers in the MotoGP race at Phillip Island in 2014 were Yamaha riders, the last all-Yamaha podium in the class so far.

Suzuki have had three podium finishes at Phillip Island in the premier class. 2006 when Chris Vermeulen finished second, 2016 when Maverick Viñales finished third and last year when Andrea Iannone finished second.

The best result for an Aprilia rider in the MotoGP class at Phillip Island is a ninth-place finish with Aleix Espargaro last year. Jeremy McWilliams qualified on pole position in the premier class at Phillip Island in 2000, which is the last pole position for Aprilia to date in the class.

In 2017, Pol Espargaro crossed the line in ninth place at Phillip Island, which is the best result for KTM at this track in the premier class of Grand Prix racing. Espargaro qualified in sixth position, which was the best qualifying result for KTM in the class at the time, a record beaten subsequently at the Americas GP before both Espargaro and then-KTM rider Johann Zarco took front row starts this season.

Valentino Rossi is the rider with most GP wins at Phillip Island with eight (5 x MotoGP, 1 x 500cc, 2 x 250cc) followed by Casey Stoner with six, all in the MotoGP class from 2007 to 2012.

Three other riders have had three GP victories at Phillip Island: Marco Melandri (1 x MotoGP, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 125cc), Jorge Lorenzo (1 x MotoGP, 2 x 250cc) and Marc Marquez (2 x MotoGP, 1x 125cc).

Home riders have taken 10 GP wins at Phillip Island: Casey Stoner (MotoGP from 2007 to 2012), Wayne Gardner (500cc in 1989 and 1990), Mick Doohan (500cc/1998) and Jack Miller (Moto3/2014).

The last Australian rider to finish on the podium at Phillip Island in any of the three classes is Jack Miller who won the Moto3 race in 2014.

Marc Marquez has qualified on pole position for the last five years at Phillip Island, equalling Casey Stoner who did it between 2008 and 2012 at this track.

The nine Moto2 races that have taken place at Phillip Island have been won by seven different riders: Alex De Angelis (2010 and 2011), Pol Espargaro (2012 and 2013), Maverick Viñales (2014), Alex Rins (2015), Tom Lüthi (2016), Miguel Oliveira (2017) and Brad Binder (2018). 

The seven Moto3 races that have taken place at Phillip Island have been won by six different riders: Sandro Cortese (2012), Álex Rins (2013), Jack Miller (2014), Miguel Oliveira (2015), Brad Binder (2016), Joan Mir (2017) and Albert Arenas (2018).

The 14th place finisher in the Moto3 race in Phillip Island last year, John McPhee, crossed the line just 0.989 seconds behind race winner Albert Arenas; this is the closest top 14 of all-time in the lightweight class of Grand Prix racing beating the record set in 2017 at the Italian GP (1.524s).

Source: MCNews.com.au