2019 MotoGP

Phillip Island Saturday Report

The morning…

The anticipated rain had come during the night on Friday but a stiff wind had dried the track out by the time competitors took to the circuit on Saturday morning. 

The forecast was still very uninspiring and the sky somewhat foreboding, but the precipitation stayed in check long enough for Moto3 and Moto2 to all enjoy dry FP3 sessions, and it looked like the premier MotoGP category might enjoy the same luck.

Tony Arbolino topped Moto3 proceedings on Saturday morning but windy conditions prevented riders from improving on their Friday times, thus Arbolino still missed out on automatic promotion through to Q2.

Fabio Di Giannantonio was quickest in Moto2 FP3 but again few riders managed to improve on their Friday markers due to the blustery conditions. The Italian was one of only five riders that managed to improve on their Friday time.  Remy Gardner was one of those to improve, third in the session but still only 16th on combined times. 

When FP3 for MotoGP got underway Alex Rins went down almost immediately. It was a soft crash but the Spaniard was unable to re-start his Suzuki.  Eventually he pushed the bike far enough for team members to then help him back to the pits.

The time lost for Rins though was off-set after a problem of a different kind caused a slight delay to proceedings only minutes after they had got started. 

One of the Pramac Ducati crew lost hold of Jack Miller’s pit-board in the stiff wind, easily done today I would imagine, and the large pit board was laying in the middle of the main straight!  Officials jumped the fence when safe and retrieved the pit board.

Four-minutes later pit-lane opened again as small rain showers started to shed their contents around the circuit. It was hardly enough to wet the circuit, and blew over quickly, but the wind was brutal and far from consistent. Thus there was little to be gained in the conditions, most MotoGP riders chose to keep their powder dry for most of the session.

It was not until the dying minutes of the FP3 session that the track got a little busy. No rider though managed to improve their times due to the windy conditions. Marquez topped the session but Vinales continued to hold sway at the top of the combined timesheets. 

The afternoon….

While Moto3 riders got to enjoy a mainly dry qualifying session rain started sprinkling around the Phillip Island lay-out ahead of the Q2 session for Moto2 and the wind was gusting across the circuit with violence. 

Marcos Ramirez took pole in Moto3 ahead of Aron Canet and Albert Arenas. Scotsman John McPhee will start tomorrow from the front of the second row. 

Sam Lowes and Remy Gardner were quick enough in the Moto2 Q1 session to promote themselves through to Q2. The opening minutes of the Q2 session were dry but with five minutes remaining the rain started falling which ruined the chances of a late charge from many riders, the most frustrated of which was Remy Gardner who will start from 15th on the grid tomorrow. Jorge Navarro will start from pole ahead of Binder and Marini while Fabio Di Giannantonio will head the second row. 

The rain had stopped again by the time MotoGP FP4 got underway.

Pit lane opened for MotoGP FP4 at 1445 and the entire 22 rider field were quick out of the blocks to get some important laps in on what was a dry track, but strong gusty winds were still making conditions quite treacherous. FP4 does not count towards the combined times that decide the Q2 qualifiers thus is generally used to chase race set-up of prepare for the Q sessions that follow immediately after.

Miguel Oliveira fell foul of the conditions and was blown wide at the end of the straight and drifted off onto the grass at over 300 km/h. The KTM machine and Miguel did a few tumbles but miraculously the melee was not as monstrous as it might have been. He was taken to the medical centre where he was cleared of any significant injuries, although he was somewhat battered and bruised.

Fabio Quartararo’s big tumble yesterday was badly affecting the young Frenchman. A shortage of track time yesterday costing him dearly, and also his badly bruised ankle, along with other ailments, causing him problems. He was also being frustrated by the wind.

With just under 13-minutes remaining the session was red flagged as pit board numbers had blown on to the circuit which added to the risk level in the conditions. Hitting the picks with some foreign matter under your front wheel is not going to make for a pleasant ride.   

A special meeting of the safety commission and the MotoGP riders was then called to discuss the risks now being placed on the riders. It had already been a more bruising than normal event and with the wind was predicted to only get stronger as the afternoon continued thus discussions needed to be had and decisions needed to be made concerning this afternoon’s qualifying sessions.

The decision was handed down that no further track action would take place today.  Further meetings where then held to decide a revised schedule for tomorrow. The Sunday forecast far from perfect, but decidedly better than had been predicted for today.

Eventually organisers announced that they would assess conditions in the morning and then decide whether to run qualifying sessions ahead of the race on Sunday, or whether the grid will be based on the combined practice times. That of course would put Maverick Vinales on pole with Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso joining him on the front row. Full combined practice results can be found below. 

Source: MCNews.com.au

MotoGP

In a stark contrast to this morning the sun was shining brightly across the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit when pit-lane opened for FP2 at 1505 on Friday afternoon.

Vinales had pretty much dominated FP1, while Jack Miller and Marc Marquez were also always close to the top of the time-sheets throughout the wet morning session.

Vinales had looked very comfortable on the wet track, his YZR-M1 slithering around underneath him as he put in plenty of 1m39s before underlining his wet pace with a 1m38.957s to hold off late charges from Miller and Marquez. This trio clearly had the best pace in the wet. Rossi in P4 was just under a second off his team-mate.

The big news from FP1 though was Fabio Quartararo’s crash. The young Frenchman was stretchered to the medical centre where pain-killers were administered that ruled him out of participating in FP2.  He was cleared of any broken bones but extensive bruising to his ankle was causing him great discomfort. He had been seventh in the morning session.

In the dry this afternoon half the field were into the 1m31s by lap three. Marquez then dropped in a 1m30.332s on his fourth lap, despite a massive wiggle coming on to the main straight.  Vinales was right behind him on 1m30.467s while Crutchlow, Miller and Petrucci were also now in the 1m30s.

Maverick Vinales was the first to dip into the 1m29s, a 1m29.916s on his ninth lap showcasing that wet or dry he is up to fighting for victory this weekend.

Danilo Petrucci was the second rider to drop under the 1m30s barrier, and then did it again on the next lap to better Vinales and go P1. 

That didn’t last long though as Marquez blasted across the line to a 1m29.718, only to then go quicker again at the first split before getting caught up in traffic at turn four, ruining that lap. Next time around though he bettered it to 1m29.621s.

Vinales then turned up the wick to a 1m29.195s with 20-minutes still remaining.

Jack Miller kept his powder dry until ten-minutes were left, the Aussie then shooting up to second place ahead of Marquez, a 1m29.609s to the Pramac Ducati man.

With five-minutes left on the clock riders were largely heading out of pit-lane on fresh rubber for a last charge time attack to ensure their spot in Q2 tomorrow, should Saturday turn out as wet as expected.

Petrucci jumped up the order to P2, a 1m29.327s pushing Miller back to P3. Miller retaliated, but not quite by enough, despite the Australian improving his time Petrucci remained P2 with two-minutes remaining.

Pol Espargaro then crashed while trying to improve on his best of 1m30.859s, his afternoon was done.

Maverick Vinales then smashed them with a 1m28.824s.

Marquez was on a flyer, under at the first split, then elbows out to pass his team-mate which might have cost him a little time and ruined his shot at P1. The two Repsol Honda men remonstrating with each other as they prepared for their practice start.

In the dying seconds Dovizioso shot to P2 on 1m29.320s, and Crutchlow promoted himself to P3 on 1m29.325s, pushing Petrucci back to P4 and Miller P5.

Marquez ended the session in P6 ahead of Valentino Rossi, Alex Rins and Franco Morbidelli while Aleix Espargaro rounded out the top ten.

Vinales on top, by half-a-second no less!

With Saturday’s weather forecast looking ugly, it is likely that today’s times will decide who and who does not automatically go through to Q2 tomorrow.

Straight after FP2 riders then participated in a 20-minute test session for Michelin, who were using the opportunity to evaluate some 2020 specification rubber. 

Marquez topped the tyre test session and pulled off another one of his ridiculous saves after losing the front. 70-degrees of lean was registering as he had the bike on his knee and elbow all the way until it almost came to a complete stop, without touching the ground. Marquez then rolled across the grass, waving to the ground as they watched on and picked their jaws up off the ground, then simply carried on to reel off more 1m29s… 

Then to add more comedy to the show a wallaby hopped across the circuit in front of a couple of MotoGP riders… Phillip Island really does have it all  🙂 

Source: MCNews.com.au