Marquez claims pole for Australian MotoGP

Marc Marquez has claimed his 44th career MotoGP pole position ahead of tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

The Honda rider set the pace early in the session before logging a 1:28.386s lap in the dying stages confirming himself at the front of the grid.

Marquez, Andrea Iannone and Jack Miller ran nose-to-tail in the opening minutes to initially take the top three places, only for Johann Zarco to go quickest with a 1:28.744s as the session began to draw to a close.

Tough falling down the order, Miller equalled his career-best qualifying result and will start from the middle of the second row, between Iannone and Pol Esparago on the KTM.

Championship contender Andrea Dovizisio qualified just eleventh after failing to improve on his final lap, the Ducati driver quick in the first sector before dropping time in the middle part of the lap.

Having escaped from Q1, Valentino Rossi posted the seventh fastest time to start from the third row.

Bradley Smith also found his way into Qualifying 2 to make it two KTMs in the final part of qualifying, ending the session ninth.

Danilo Petrucci crashed out in the first part of the session while Cal Crutchlow crashed out in the final moments of Qualifying 2 on his way to tenth place.

Australian Broc Parkes was eleventh fastest in the first part of qualifying while Jorge Lorenzo, who fell heavily earlier in the day, could only manage sixth best in Q1 to start 16th for tomorrow’s race.

A 20-minute warmup at 11:40 AEDT Sunday morning is the last time riders will be on track before tomorrow afternoon’s 27-lap Australian MotoGP at 16:00.

Result: Australian MotoGP Qualifying