Red Bull KTM was in strong form during the MotoGP Australian GP practice session. The Austrian manufacturer led the session with a one-two finish, with Brad Binder ahead of Jack Miller. The session saw Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) relegated to the first qualifying phase for the second consecutive round. Miguel Oliveira finished 20th.
Somewhat surprisingly, the early leader of the session was Raúl Fernández (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia), just 0.070s ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha). Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) was in third place.
On the second flying laps, the leaderboard saw a radical change, but the leader remained unexpected: Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini/Ducati), ahead of the Red Bull KTM bikes of Miller and Binder. The South African was next in line on the timing sheets, with Pol Espargaró (GasGas Tech3/KTM) in second place.
The Spanish rider was unable to hold his position for long, as he was overtaken by Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) and Miller. The Italian briefly led the race, but was soon surpassed by Binder. The standings then calmed down. With 39 minutes to go, Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) suffered a crash at turn ten, just like in FP1.
Not long after, Viñales reached the second position on the table, approaching Binder. About halfway through, the Spaniard started a series of fast laps, but always failed to make enough improvements to take the lead. Meanwhile, Di Giannantonio and Quartararo reached third and fourth respectively, relegating Bezzecchi to fifth. Di Giannantonio even took the lead with about 22 minutes to go. He didn’t stay there long before being beaten by Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac/Ducati). The Frenchman, in turn, was overtaken by Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) and Augusto Fernández (GasGas Tech3/KTM). Aprilia returned to a one-two position with 14 minutes remaining, with Viñales in first and Aleix Espargaró in second, while Di Giannantonio improved to third. The situation didn’t last long, as the Aprilia bikes were overtaken by Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati), Zarco, and Binder.The decisive final minutes arrived, which would determine the qualifiers directly to the second phase of the qualification. Viñales overtook Martín to become the leader, but soon after Binder took the lead. Position changes were constant in this phase and even the record lap of Phillip Island was almost beaten.
After Binder took the lead, his teammate Miller came in second, with Viñales in third. And that’s how the table ended at the end of the session, with Martín in fourth and Pol Espargaró in fifth. Bezzecchi finished sixth.
Di Giannantonio, Enea Bastianini (Ducati), Aleix Espargaró, and Zarco also secured a spot directly in Q2, unlike Bagnaia. The reigning champion finished 11th, 0.186s away from qualifying. Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) will also go through Q1, as he never had the pace to truly escape the last positions and finished 20th.
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