Miller breaks 13-year hoodoo with front row Phillip Island start

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo pulled out a show-stopping lap to take pole position on the factory YZR-M1 to pip Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi on his RS-GP25.

With third place, Miller ended a drought dating back to 2012 for the last time an Australian started from the front row at Phillip Island when Casey Stoner took pole position.

“It’s unreal,” said Miller.

“I was a bit disappointed with how yesterday ran, yesterday afternoon.

“I felt like we had great speed from the get go and just lacked those little improvements that we needed yesterday afternoon.

“We put our head down last night and were able to get the bike to where I needed it basically this morning, thankfully we had that dry time this morning.

“The Aussie fans are out here in numbers. It’s unreal to see and to be back on the front row and honestly on a bike that we can fight with today and tomorrow – I’m looking forward to it.

“We’ll see what we can get. Try and keep our nose clean. I’ve got my rear-view mirrors on for down at Miller Corner. Hopefully we don’t repeat that and it should be a good day.”

It’s the first time since the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix that two Yamaha bikes have qualified on the front row and it’s the first time since 2020 that no Ducati has qualified on the front row.

Incredibly, the best Ducati was only sixth in the hands of Alex Marquez, who suffered a high speed crash at Doohan Corner.

Raul Fernandez was another standout for Trackhouse, putting his Aprilia fourth fastest just ahead of KTM factory rider Pedro Acosta.

Marquez’s teammate Fermin Aldeguer will start seventh ahead of Pol Espargato (KTM), Luca Marini (Honda), and Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati).

Saturday afternoon’s sprint is scheduled for 3pm AEDT and Sunday’s grand prix will be at the revised time of 3pm AEDT.

Results: MotoGP Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, Phillip Island (Q2)

Results: MotoGP Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, Phillip Island (Q1)