Jack Miller produced a last-gasp glory run to top first practice for his home MotoGP round, the Australian Grand Prix.
The Pramac Yamaha rider’s 1m28.281s on fresh tyres right at the end of the Phillip Island Friday morning session was probably not the most representative performance - with several frontrunners not taking fresh tyres at the end, and yellows then slippery surface flags for Joan Mir’s Honda blowing an engine on the run to the first corner disrupting a few laps.
But no one was going to begrudge Miller leading the way at home, and he may well be set for one of his strongest weekends of the year given the likelihood of the Yamaha performing well at this fast track.
Alex Marquez was the pacesetter for much of the session for Gresini Ducati and stayed second with his earlier lap. He had a frightening late near-miss with Miller’s team-mate Miguel Oliveira that was investigated by the stewards but did not result in any sanction.
KTM’s Pedro Acosta also relied on an earlier time to hold third, with Mandalika winner Fermin Aldeguer on the second Gresini Ducati and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo jumping up to fourth and fifth with their last runs.
Pecco Bagnaia looked like he might start a crucial weekend as badly as he ended the last one, as he abandoned his primary Ducati in the garage before he’d even set a flying lap. His body language was extremely troubled after his first experience of his spare bike too, the gestures indicating major stability problems.
But Bagnaia did settle after that and finished the session seventh. Struggling as badly as he did in Indonesia a fortnight ago on a weekend when he's the works Ducati team's sole victory hope given Marc Marquez's injury absence would not bode well for Bagnaia and Ducati's long-term relationship.
Bagnaia was one place behind Aprilia’s lead runner Marco Bezzecchi, who is carrying a double long lap penalty into this grand prix for causing the crash that sidelined Marquez. Aprilia announced during the session that Jorge Martin will miss the next round at Sepang too, and that didn’t look like the firm's only injury worry as Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura - still grappling with the after-effects of his heavy Misano crash a month ago - was last and nearly two and a half seconds off the pace.
VR46 Ducati rider Franco Morbidelli had the session's only crash, falling at the second corner early on but heading back out later to go 14th quickest.
Results
1 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) 1m28.281s
2 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) +0.036s
3 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +0.135s
4 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) +0.185s
5 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +0.239s
6 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +0.251s
7 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +0.275s
8 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) +0.337s
9 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +0.350s
10 Brad Binder (KTM) +0.373s
11 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.479s
12 Joan Mir (Honda) +0.596s
13 Luca Marini (Honda) +0.695s
14 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +0.705s
15 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +0.738s
16 Pol Espargaro (Tech3 KTM) +0.757s
17 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +0.958s
18 Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha) +1.048s
19 Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) +1.510s
20 Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda) +2.028s
21 Michele Pirro (Ducati) +2.364s
22 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +2.474s
