MotoGP Australian GP: Zarco tops Friday practice from Bezzecchi

Phillip Island was left under water following heavy rain on Thursday, but the weather had cleared by the time FP1 got underway and dry conditions would stick for the rest of the day.

Pramac’s Johann Zarco led a Ducati 1-2 on his Pramac-run GP22 from factory counterpart Jack Miller, making his first – and only – appearance on home soil as a factory team Ducati rider.

Split by just 0.091 seconds, few riders did any soft tyre time attacks as that running was reserved for the latter stages of FP2 in the afternoon.

Miller, who comes into his home race 40 points down on Fabio Quartararo in the championship with 75 up for grabs in the final three rounds, was the leading title contender in FP1 with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro the next-best in fifth.

Espargaro was shadowed by track rookie Enea Bastianini on the Gresini Ducati, with Francesco Bagnaia eighth and Quartararo a low-key 12th.

In the early stages of the second 45-minute session, Maverick Vinales – who battled for victory in MotoGP’s last visit to Australia in 2019 – set the benchmark pace with a 1m31.016s.

The Aprilia rider improved to a 1m30.615s, before Marc Marquez on the updated factory Honda shot to the top of the order with a 1m30.126s.

Honda debuted the new front aerodynamic fairing in FP1 it first trialled at the Misano test in September, as well as a Ducati-style rear wing set-up.

The rear wings disappeared from Marquez’s bike for the start of FP2, with his 1m30.126s remaining the time to beat up until the closing stages when the field engaged in a soft tyre time attack.

Marquez’s time would finally be toppled with four minutes remaining when VR46 Ducati rookie Marco Bezzecchi fired in a 1m29.871s.

Vinales and Quartararo over the next minute and a half would go quicker with respective 1m29.745s and 1m29.614s laps, before Bezzecchi edged ahead with a 1m29.513s.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

But it would be Zarco who would deny Bezzecchi top honours on Friday at Phillip Island, the Frenchman ending the day fastest of all with a 1m29.475s.

Pol Espargaro on the factory Honda was a solid third at a circuit his team-mate Marquez expected wouldn’t favour the 2022 RC213V coming into the weekend.

Championship leader Quartararo was just 0.139s off the pace in fourth as the leading title challengers, with his former Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales fifth ahead of Marquez.

Aleix Espargaro was seventh on the sister Aprilia, 0.357s off the pace, with Bagnaia only eighth with a 1m29.838s at the chequered flag.

The top 10 was completed by Bastianini and Pramac’s Jorge Martin, with Thailand race winner Miguel Oliveira the leading KTM in 11th.

Having been absent since practice at Aragon with a broken ankle, 2020 world champion Joan Mir ended his comeback just 0.063s outside of the top 10 in 12th on the first of the Suzukis as team-mate Alex Rins was 16th.

Miller was a mystifying 13th after his soft tyre time attack came to nothing, with LCR Honda’s Alex Marquez and KTM’s Brad Binder rounding out the top 15.

Alex Marquez’s LCR team-mate Takaaki Nakagami remains sidelined following further surgery on his right hand and is being replaced by Honda test rider Tetsuta Nagashima, who was 2.1s off the pace on Friday.

2022 Australian GP Free Practice 2 results

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap	Interval
1	5	Johann Zarco	Ducati	1'29.475
2	72	Marco Bezzecchi	Ducati	1'29.513	0.038	0.038
3	44	Pol Espargaro	Honda	1'29.527	0.052	0.014
4	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1'29.614	0.139	0.087
5	12	Maverick Viñales	Aprilia	1'29.745	0.270	0.131
6	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'29.775	0.300	0.030
7	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'29.832	0.357	0.057
8	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1'29.838	0.363	0.006
9	23	Enea Bastianini	Ducati	1'29.849	0.374	0.011
10	89	Jorge Martin	Ducati	1'29.881	0.406	0.032
11	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1'29.923	0.448	0.042
12	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1'29.944	0.469	0.021
13	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'30.021	0.546	0.077
14	73	Alex Marquez	Honda	1'30.088	0.613	0.067
15	33	Brad Binder	KTM	1'30.099	0.624	0.011
16	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'30.138	0.663	0.039
17	49	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Ducati	1'30.158	0.683	0.020
18	35	Cal Crutchlow	Yamaha	1'30.206	0.731	0.048
19	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1'30.619	1.144	0.413
20	10	Luca Marini	Ducati	1'30.725	1.250	0.106
21	25	Raúl Fernández	KTM	1'30.841	1.366	0.116
22	87	Remy Gardner	KTM	1'30.940	1.465	0.099
23	40	Darryn Binder	Yamaha	1'31.078	1.603	0.138
24	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	Honda	1'31.577	2.102	0.499
View full results

2022 Australian GP Free Practice 1 results

Cla	#	Rider	Time	Gap	Interval
1	5	Johann Zarco	1'30.368
2	43	Jack Miller	1'30.459	0.091	0.091
3	73	Alex Marquez	1'30.493	0.125	0.034
4	42	Alex Rins	1'30.511	0.143	0.018
5	41	Aleix Espargaro	1'30.687	0.319	0.176
6	23	Enea Bastianini	1'30.790	0.422	0.103
7	93	Marc Marquez	1'30.897	0.529	0.107
8	63	Francesco Bagnaia	1'31.077	0.709	0.180
9	49	Fabio Di Giannantonio	1'31.087	0.719	0.010
10	72	Marco Bezzecchi	1'31.166	0.798	0.079
11	44	Pol Espargaro	1'31.194	0.826	0.028
12	20	Fabio Quartararo	1'31.195	0.827	0.001
13	89	Jorge Martin	1'31.419	1.051	0.224
14	12	Maverick Viñales	1'31.436	1.068	0.017
15	36	Joan Mir	1'31.531	1.163	0.095
16	40	Darryn Binder	1'31.700	1.332	0.169
17	35	Cal Crutchlow	1'31.868	1.500	0.168
18	88	Miguel Oliveira	1'31.950	1.582	0.082
19	21	Franco Morbidelli	1'32.178	1.810	0.228
20	87	Remy Gardner	1'32.207	1.839	0.029
21	33	Brad Binder	1'32.566	2.198	0.359
22	10	Luca Marini	1'32.831	2.463	0.265
23	25	Raúl Fernández	1'32.947	2.579	0.116
24	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	1'34.437	4.069	1.490
View full results