Michael Scott | October 27, 2019
2019 Phillip Island MotoGP Results and News
Sunday
Marquez the Merciless added to his reputation and his trophy cabinet again on Sunday in Australia. For a third time in the last five races, he waited until the start of the final lap to pounce. This time the victim was Maverick Vinales, and by the end of the lap, the Monster Yamaha rider wasn’t there any longer.
2019 Phillip Island MotoGP Results and News
Marc Marquez (center) celebrates his Australian GP victory along with runner up Cal Crutchlow (left) and Jack Miller (right), who was third. (Gold & Goose photo)
Trying desperately to regain the lead he’d held for most of the race, his rear grip gone, Vinales had one last chance to attack the Repsol Honda –under braking for the Turn Ten hairpin. But he never made it. In the change of direction over the preceding Lukey Heights, the rear tyre let go and he was down and out.
The lack of mercy showed also when Marquez passed early leader Cal Crutchlow (LCR Castrol Honda) for second behind Vinales – so close that he almost removed the British rider’s glove! “I was pushing it back on all down the straight,” said Crutchlow.
Crowned champion Marquez’s fifth win in a row was his 11th this year and the 55th in his career – putting him one ahead of Mick Doohan as the most successful Honda rider.
The strategy, he said, was the same that he had employed to defeat Fabio Quartararo at Misano and in Thailand, “but this time the difference was bigger.
“When I passed Cal it was on the limit … but it was important. I couldn’t afford to let Maverick get away. He was faster than me, and the hard part of the race was when he pushed for five or six laps; but I knew if I could stay with him then I would have a chance. I took a gamble on the soft rear tyre, and at the end it was finished, but Maverick had the same.
“Sometimes the faster rider doesn’t win the race. It was like that today.”
Vinales’s crash, with three corners to go, handed a fine second to Crutchlow at the track where a year ago he suffered potentially career-ending leg injuries; and a home-hero podium third to Jack Miller, who had carefully tended his tyres, then manoeuvred his Pramac Honda to the front of a huge gang disputing the position.
Crutchlow was jubilant. “I knew I had the pace for the podium whatever happened,” he said, also adding: “In the last few laps, my rear tyre was in destroyed.”
Miller had thought he could do no better than fourth, having saved his tyres in the battle to take narrow control at the end. “As I came over Lukey Heights I saw dust – then I saw it was Maverick, and I knew I would be on the podium.”
He had ridden with impressively mature judgement, at odds with the wild-man Ned Kelly tribute leathers he’d adopted for the race. “I tried not to do what I’ve done before – to lead then drop back. I waited, and then I could see the guys gradually coming back to me.”
Third to tenth was covered by just over two seconds, with jostling position changes throughout the race, and the two usually downbeat Aprilias having by far their best race of the year, at a track where rhythm and handling mean more than acceleration and power.
After a weekend of disruptive weather that postponed qualifying from Saturday to Sunday (Vinales ahead of Quartararo and Marquez), there was a final twist –spots of rain spattered down at the end … luckily too late to make any difference.
With everybody short of set-up time, there was some second-guessing on tyres on the grid, while in the pits wet-shod bikes were ready in case of a flag-to-flag bike-swap race. According to Michelin’s tyre sheet (admittedly not necessarily correct), only Johann Zarco (substituting for Nakagami on the LCR Idemitsu Honda) chose the soft front; only Marquez and Crutchlow the hard. For the rear, however, Vinales, both Aprilia riders Iannone and Espargaro, Rossi and Marquez joined Zarco in gambling on the soft, the rest all on hard.
Said Miller: “I watched the guys switching to the soft, and I thought either they had much better throttle control than me, or they’re expecting rain – for me it had no endurance.” This decision paid him back.
Valentino Rossi (Monster Yamaha) celebrated his record 400th race with a tearing start, seizing the lead with a run round the outside into the daunting first corner, and holding it for the first three laps.
Into the second corner, Danilo Petrucci was pushed wide and his Ducati flicked him off hard and high. Outside of him, Quartararo had already run wide and slowed. The inverted rider went piling into the side of the Petronas Yamaha, and both were down and out.
It was Crutchlow first chasing Rossi, and – to the amazement even of his Aprilia team – also Andrea Iannone, an impressive run he would sustain. Crutchlow took the lead for six laps as Rossi faded. But Vinales was moving up from sixth on lap one, and he firmly outbraked Crutchlow at Turn Four hairpin on lap ten. Marquez followed him through, violently, three corners later, and the pair took off.
Crutchlow would likewise be alone to the finish.
A second or so behind him there was a brawl more resembling undignified Moto3 than MotoGP, riders see-sawing up and down the order. Alex Rins was the first to lead Iannone over the line, shortly before half distance, but the Ecstar Suzuki rider wouldn’t stay there for long. Next to lead the gang was Rossi again, on lap 14. At this point, fourth to 11th was covered by less than two seconds; while Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) was leading the private Ducatis of Miller and Pecco Bagnaia forward.
It would all change several times, Rookie Bagnaia led the group from laps 20 to 23; Dovi was pushed wide at the hairpin on the last lap.
Miller did it all best; then Bagnaia and Joan Mir (Ecstar Suzuki), fourth and fifth the best yet for both class rookies. Iannone was sixth, his best Aprilia finish; then Dovi, Rossi, Rins and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), third to tenth still inside two seconds.
Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha was a distant 11th, then Pol Espargaro, who salvaged KTM’s honour by a tenth over former Red Bull KTM team-mate Zarco, in an impressive first Honda ride.
Miles behind the last points went to the battling Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Ducati) and Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM); with the increasingly embarrassing Jorge Lorenzo’s Repsol Honda 16th and last, another 20 seconds away.
Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM) did not start, suffering hand injuries from his session-stopping Saturday crash; Kallio and Rabat retired.
Marquez’s 375 points make him invulnerable; the next positions are still open, with Dovizioso 240, Rins 183, Vinales 176, Petrucci 169 and Quartararo 163. Honda have already won the Constructors crown; the game is on for the Teams championship.
Moto2 Race – 25 laps
Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder took his third Moto2 win of the year, Sunday at Phillip Island. (Gold & Goose photo)
Ill-favoured at other tracks, the steel trellis-framed KTMs were rampant at rhythmic Phillip Island, with Brad Binder taking his third win of the year, leading from start to finish.
He and Red Bull KTM team-mate Jorge Martin, a class rookie, were on the front row alongside pole starter Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up). Binder led off the line, Martin gained second place on the first lap, and held it safely throughout.
He only question was whether Martin would attack. “I’d do what I thought was a perfect lap, and the pit board would say ‘Plus 0.2 … 0.4 … 0.3’. He kept me honest all the way,” grinned Binder, whose other concern was a slide on the final laps as a few spots of rain appeared.
Martin, however, was happy to take a second podium in succession and his best finish in his new class. “I knew Brad had the pace to win,” he said.
The pair had gradually outpaced first pole qualifier Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up), and then new third-placer Thomas Luthi (Dynavolt Kalex), who passed Navarro before half distance.
The US GP winner needed a second successive podium to keep his title hopes alive. “We found a good set-up at the last race that means I can fight again,” the veteran said.
The first four kept that order throughout; but closing right up to Navarro at the end was the remains of what had been an eight-strong group, with points leader Alex Marquez (EG-VDS Kalex) mired within it.
There might have been more, but for a first-lap shemozzle, triggered when American Racing KTM rider Iker Lecuona left his braking for the Turn Four hairpin too late, and knocked into Luca Marini (SKY VR46 Kalex), winner of the last two races, who in turn brought down Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM). Lecuona survived, but was hit with a long-lap penalty … but still came back to join the group.
In the early laps Australian Remy Gardner headed the gang, but soon after half distance he succumbed to Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP40 Kalex), who had worked his way through from tenth on lap one.
Next up was Lecuona, who was ahead of Baldassarri from laps 18 to 22.
On the final couple of laps Gardner fought back, and was on Baldassari’s tail at the finish, and half a second ahead of Lecuona. Then came Marquez, finally ahead again of Stefano Manzi’s MV Agusta, himself having regained ninth from Tatsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX Kalex).
Two seconds off the back, Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Kalex) finally got the better of Nicolo Bulega (SKY VR46 Kalex). Jesko Raffin (NTS), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Speed Up) and Bo Bendsneyder (NTS) took the last points. American
Joe Roberts (KTM) had been in the battle for 15th, but missed the points by less than two seconds.
Xavi Vierge (EG-VDS Kalex) crashed out early on; Somkiat Chantra (Team Asia Kalex) near the end.
With 50 points available, Marquez’s lead of 28 is far from comfortable, with three other riders still in with at least a theoretical chance. Best placed are Luthi, with 214 points to Marquez’s 242, and Binder (209); then Navarro (199).
Moto3 – 23 laps
Lorenzo Dalla Porta won the race and the championship in Moto3 action Sunday in Australia. (Gold & Goose photo)
Lorenzo Dalla Porta won the race and the championship in a fraught first race of the day, leading more laps over the line than anyone else in a huge front pack, including the one that mattered most.
There are parts of Phillip Island where the pack had to go into single file; but the finish line is not one, and they were almost three abreast behind the winner, his Leopard Honda team-mate Marcos Ramirez ghosting through for to take second, and last year’s winner Albert Arenas (Gaviota KTM) third, with Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Honda) inches behind in fourth.
The top three were over the line within 0.088 of a second; the top four in 0,126, and the top ten 1.635.
The Italian’s triumph came at the expense of his strongest title rival, and frequent leader on points, Aron Canet. The Sterilgarda KTM rider had a fourth zero score in the last five races, this time though his own error – walking disconsolately away from a very fast crash on the third of 23 laps.
The lead group was huge throughout, with several different leaders at different points on the track, changing at every overtaking opportunity. They included Darryn Binder (Green Power KTM), Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Honda), Romano Fenati and Tony Arbolino (both Snipers Honda), Ramirez, Arenas and Alonso Lopez (EG Honda), the last-named before serving two long-lap penalties, the first for bumping Filip Salac’s KTM off, the second for running off track limits in his first detour.
The last-lap shuffle of the pack put John McPhee (Petronas Honda) fifth ahead of Binder. Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas Honda), Tom Booth Amos (Green Power KTM – the Briton’s second points and first top ten), Arbolino and (off the back of the grid) Stefano Nepa (Avintia KTM), completing the top ten.
The rest of the points went to Foggia, Fenati, Lopez, Ogura and Kornfeil.
There were several crashes, Vietti taking out Masia from the lead group at the tight Turn Ten on the last lap; Migno knocked off by Team Asia’s Toba – this time the Japanese teamster’s fault; Rodrigo and Garcia also down and out together. Antonelli did not start, battered from a Saturday crash.
Dalla Porta has won three races this season, the same as Canet, but a slew of six second places have shown championship consistency in the most volatile of classes. He has an unassailable 254 points, Canet 182; then Arbolino 168. Ramirez 164, McPhee 147.
Saturday
Qualifying Postponed as Gales Strike Phillip Island
Weather was the winner at Phillip Island today. And there was plenty of it. With Conditions changing minute by minute, sun supplanted by rain, then sun again, the only constant was the wind. That too was variable, swirling around … and so strong that eventually MotoGP qualifying was called off.
Fierce winds shut down MotoGP qualifying Saturday at Phillip Island. (Gold & Goose photo)
The trigger was a massive crash in the MotoGP FP4 for Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider Miguel Oliveira, who was simply blown off the left of the track at top speed on the front straight. He fell on the grass verge and tumbled spectacularly through the gravel trap on the outside of Doohan Corner. Amazingly, he escaped serious injury.
Shortly afterwards, the red flags came out, then a special meeting of the Riders’ Safety Commission was convened with race direction. The decision to abandon track action was reached rapidly.
It was not so easy, however, to decide how to determine grid positions. In the recent past at Qatar when qualifying had to be abandoned because of track flooding, the grids were decided on combined Free Practice times – and this may still be the case for tomorrow’s race.
Current plans, however, were for tomorrow morning’s schedule to be rejigged. Warm-up for Moto3 starts 50 minutes earlier than scheduled, with all three classes getting their allotted time, and MotoGP Q1 and Q2 thereafter.
Q1 is scheduled for 10:20 local time; Q2 is at 10:45.
Weather permitting.
Before the red flags came out in FP4, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) had taken to the top of the listings for the first time all weekend, half a second ahead of Maverick Vinales (Monster Yamaha). But in the blustery conditions nobody was as quick as had been the case on Friday afternoon, the only dry session on the first day, when Vinales had been on top and Marquez sixth.
Vinales, winner here last year, led every session wet or dry, including FP3 this morning, when conditions were dry but so variable that only 12 of the 22 riders went out, and only one of them – Red Bull KTM’s Pol Espargaro, ran more than nine laps.
One of those was Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha), who missed yesterday afternoon’s dry session after slamming his left foot hard in a morning crash, and needed to set a qualifying time, recording one narrowly inside the 107-percent limit.
Should FP2 times eventually decide the grid, then Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) will complete row one. Row two will be led by the Ducatis of Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller from Marquez; with Rossi (Monster Yamaha), Alex Rins (Ecstar Suzuki) and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha) behind. Then Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), Joan Mir (Suzuki) and Karel Abraham (Ducati).
Johann Zarco, making his debut on the absent Nakagami’s LCR Honda, placed 15th, but in FP4 – only his third outing on the RC213V – he was up to an impressive sixth.
Moto2 – Speed Up Speeds Up
Jorge Navarro’s, of Beta Tools Speed Up, won pole, his third time of the season. (Gold & Goose photo)
The smooth sweeps of the seaside circuit favoured chassis other than the usually dominant Kalexes, although with 13 inside one second it wasn’t by much. All the same, there was just one Kalex in the top five – ridden by Luca Marini (SKY VR46).
Marini, through from Q1 after crashing yesterday, was third.
It was erstwhile title contender Jorge Navarro’s Beta Tools Speed Up on pole, his third time of the season; by better than three tenths from Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), winner here last year.
Second Speed Up rider Fabio Di Giannantonio was fourth, with second Red Bull KTM rider Jorge Martin alongside.
Sam Lowes (Federal Oils Kalex) was sixth-fastest, but a punishment for barging another rider yesterday sends him to the back of the grid. Instead points leader Alex Marquez (EG VDS Kalex) moves up to complete row two, and Lowes’s victim Jesko Raffin (RW Racing NTS) will lead the third from the KTMs of Marco Bezzecchi and Iker Lecunoa.
Thomas Luthi (Dynavolt Kalex), second overall on points, heads row three. Australian hope Remy Gardner (ONEXOX Kalex) placed 15th after coming through from Q1; American Racing’s Joe Roberts (KTM) will start from 21st, on row seven.
Moto3 – Slip-Sliding Away
Master of the changing conditions was Leopard Honda’s Marcos Ramirez, who scored pole in Moto3. (Gold & Goose photo)
Moto3 had something extra to contend with as well as wind and erratic rain. At the start of Q1, Australian wild card Yanni Shaw’s aged Kalex KTM laid a trail of oil from Turn 3 (Stoner Corner) all the way to Turn 6 (Siberia); and first one and then a whole slew of following riders crashed at the Turn 4 hairpin.
Red flags came out and the session was delayed for a 30-minute clean-up; then there were just 11 minutes left for the top four to get through to Q2, by which time it had started raining.
But when Q1 began shortly afterwards, wind had dried the track again, so the pit crews of the successful four – Can Oncu, Tony Arbolino, Jaume Masia and (for the first time) Tom Booth-Amos – had to hustle to change bike settings. Only for it to start spitting again. And then stop.
Master of the changing conditions was Leopard Honda’s Marcos Ramirez, with a first pole ahead of the lone remaining title challenger Aron Canet (Sterilgarda KTM) and last year’s winner Albert Arenas (Gaviota KTM).
John McPhee (Petronas Honda) leads tow two from two more Hondas, of Kaito Toba and points leader Lorenzo Dalla Porta.
Saturday News
Oliveira wind-induced crash stops action on Saturday
Red Bull KTM rider Miguel Oliveira, pictured here, was later blown off course for a wild ride across the grass at the end of the main straight. (Gold & Goose photo)
After barely half the MotoGP field had ventured out in the windy morning FP3, the later FP4 session was red flagged shortly after Tech3-team Red Bull KTM rider Miguel Oliveira was blown off course for a wild ride across the grass at the end of the main straight, where 1000cc MotoGP bikes routinely hit 240 km/h.
Oliveira was hit by a gust as Johann Zarco’s Honda came by, and as he started to brake for the daunting first corner, and was blown right over the edge onto the grass verge. He battled to maintain control, but eventually fell, to tumble and roll violently to rest.
Amazingly he was not seriously injured, but remains a dubious starter for tomorrow’s race.
“I will see if I am fit to ride tomorrow. At the moment, my hands are the biggest problem,” he said. “I’ll check in the morning.”
The Portuguese rider, runner up in last year’s Moto2 championship, has made a good impression in his first season in the premier class, with a best finish of eighth at the Austrian GP.
Riders’ Safety Commission Meeting Halts Proceedings
The decision to postpone qualifying until Sunday morning came at a specially convened Riders’ Safety Commission meeting … but not all riders agreed that it was the best solution, and there remained a “wait-and-see” policy, in case of bad weather in the morning.
One dissenting voice, according to a report in the German language website Speedweek, came from Vinales, who said “qualifying at 9 o’clock would be too dangerous because of the low temperatures.”
Rossi was another doubter. “You have to know exactly what the weather is tomorrow. If the wind is normal, it would be feasible. But in my opinion, it would be much more useful to take the overall standings after the FP3 as starting grid.”
There was general agreement, however, about the safety considerations.
Marc Marquez said: “There was a small chance to continue today, and when you were riding alone it was not so bad. But it looks like it’s different when riders overtake, like Johann and Oliveira, and then it is dangerous.
“This circuit has a lot of corners with a really high speed.”
For Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso also: “This is the worst track to have this kind of wind, because you have the bike at an angle all the time. Also the wind was not regular.”
Asked if having wings made the reaction of the bikes to sidewinds more dangerous, he said: “It’s difficult to answer; it is positive and negative. The front is more on the ground, but maybe with more surface area the effect of wind is more.”
Marquez Records Nearly 71 Degrees Lean Angle
Marc Marquez achieved a 70.8-degree lean angle at Phillip Island, a new MotoGP record. (Gold & Goose photo)
Another record goes to Marc Marquez. Data available after his astonishing save in FP2 on Friday (see previous News story) recorded his lean angle at 70.8 degrees. The front wheel had let go, but he picked the bike up again on his knee and elbow.
Progress Continues for Zarco
Johann Zarco looked solid Saturday on his new LCR Honda ride. (Gold & Goose photo)
Johann Zarco’s rehabilitation took a step forward on his second day on the 2018 LCR Honda RC213V, when he placed sixth in the abbreviated FP4 session. But his main target is to return to the paddock full time … even if it means dropping back from MotoGP to Moto2, where he was champion in 2015 and 2016.
His progress on the Honda left him feeling that his top-ten target for the race was not realistic.
He had started “like a rookie … at 300 km/h!” But even riding carefully, “I was not super slow, so this was positive.
“On this fast track, you really need to trust the bike, and compared to the others I was not so fast entering the corners … but step by step I could improve.”
With all MotoGP seats now taken, some observers suggest that Zarco could return to take up the empty seat in his old Moto2 team with Team Ajo, where recently signed Iker Lecuona has been plucked out of the role by KTM for their satellite MotoGP team.
However, the Ajo team plays an important role in KTM’s structure, even though the factory is to pull out of Moto2 next year, bringing on riders from Moto2 to end up in MotoGP, including Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira; and Zarco’s stock with KTM could hardly be lower, after he pulled out of his MotoGP contract.
Lowes Sanctioned After Outburst
Moto2 rider Sam Lowes was shame-faced after a rush of blood to the head triggered a dangerous out-of-character attack on another rider in FP2 on Friday – and he was punished by a back-of-the-grid start.
The British Gresini-team Kalex rider was on a fast lap at the end of the session when he came up behind Jesko Raffin’s NTS through the fast final corners, spoiling his crucial run onto the front straight.
In retaliation he pulled alongside and then swerved into his rival’s bike past the pits, then turning round to gesticulate angrily.
According to the FIM Stewards’ sanction, he was “riding in an irresponsible manner, deliberately causing contact with another rider, thereby endangering both.”
Some thought him lucky to escape with a back-of-the-grid penalty
Friday
MOTOGP – Quartararo Crashes, Vinales Takes Over
Last year’s Phillip Island winner Maverick Vinales dominated both the sodden morning session and the sun-baked afternoon, to put a Yamaha on top of the Friday sheets yet again in the run up to Sunday’s Australian GP.
2019 Phillip Island MotoGP Results and News
Maverick Vinales topped the charts in MotoGP Friday in Australia. (Gold & Goose photo)
But the rider who has so often taken that position, class rookie Fabio Quartararo, was absent in the afternoon, after a heavy crash while trying to improve on his seventh position left him lucky to escape broken bones. The satellite-team Petronas Yamaha rider did suffer a painful blow to his left ankle, and sat out the afternoon while the painkillers took effect.
Vinales’s factory Monster Yamaha ended up almost half a second ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, in a better than usual PI performance for Ducati; with Cal Crutchlow top Honda, third fastest.
Times were now close, with mere hundredths making the difference: Danilo Petrucci’s factory Ducati fourth and marginally ahead of Jack Miller’s satellite Pramac Ducati; but champion Marc Marquez almost a tenth away in sixth on the Repsol Honda.
Valentino Rossi (Monster Yamaha) was a close seventh; with Alex Rins (Ecstar Suzuki), Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) completing a top ten that was within a second of provisional pole.
All eyes were on Johann Zarco, making his debut on the absent Nakagami’s LCR Honda. An impressive 13th-fastest in the wet. He was two positions lower in the dry … but both times ahead of factory Repsol Honda rider Jorge Lorenzo, who was 16th in the dry.
After the second free practice session all riders except Quartararo and Pol Espargaro, who fell heavily at the end of FP2, took part in a one-off 20-minute tyre test, where it was Marquez’s turn to take fastest time. The session did not count towards qualifying.
Moto2 – KTM Dominates
Red Bull KTM’s Jorge Martin was a quarter of a second ahead of Brad Binder Friday in Moto2. (Gold & Goose photo)
With just three races to go before the marque retires from Moto2, the KTM chassis produced a dominant performance in the dry. Taking four of the top five positions, including the top two.
They went to the official Red Bull riders, with class rookie Jorge Martin a quarter of a second ahead of Brad Binder.
Jorge Navarro’s Beta Tools Speed Up in third was the only intruder; with Iker Lecuona and Marco Bezzecchi taking the next two slots on independent-team KTMs.
Only then came the usual slew of Kalex chassis. Tetsuta Nagashima, Nicolo Bulega and Alex Marquez took the next three places, ahead of Jesko Raffin’s NTS chassis.
The dry afternoon followed a morning crash fest, with some fancied riders paying the price. One was Luca Marini, winner of the last two races, who fell on his out lap, and stayed indoors for the rest of the session, nursing a painful shoulder. He placed 20th in the dry afternoon.
One place higher was home star Remy Gardner, who closed off the morning session with a huge tumbling crash at high speed at the fast Hayshed corner, lucky to escape serious injury, but destroying his ONEXOX Kalex.
Moto3 – Canet Fights Back
Aron Canet led the way in Moto3 Friday in Australia. (Gold & Goose photo)
The two title contenders topped the time sheets in the dry afternoon session, with Aron Canet (Sterilgarda KTM) better than two tenths ahead of the Leopard Honda of Lorenzo Dalla Porta. But the latter has the advantage on points, 47 ahead after Canet’s three no-scores in the last four races … only one his own fault.
Thai GP winner Albert Arenas (Gaviota KTM) was third, in a relatively widely spaced array of times, with just ten in the same second.
Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Honda) and team-mate Tatsuki Suzuki were next; then Mugen KTM’s Andrea Migno.
Erstwhile title contender Tony Arbolino was down in 17th; Snipers Honda team-mate Romano Fenati eighth.
Last year the top 14 finished the race inside one second, the closest finish in GP history.
Friday News
Binder Getting Factory KTM Ride
Brad Binder is going directly to the factory Red Bull KTM squad in 2020. (Gold & Goose photo)
KTM has risked upsetting its own troops with the surprise announcement that South African Brad Binder is to be taken directly into the factory team next year, the last piece in the jigsaw that makes up the 2020 grid.
Binder, currently racing for the factory’s Moto2 squad, which is to cease competition next year, was already scheduled for a move to the top class … but with KTM’s satellite team.
Now 19-year-old Spaniard Iker Lecuona will take that slot, in the Red Bull Tech 3 outfit, while Binder will join Pol Espargaro in the official factory team, also sponsored by the Austrian energy drink company.
He takes the seat left vacant by the early departure of Johann Zarco, who asked to be released midway through the first of two years of contract with KTM.
But the appointment not only robs Tech 3 of a valuable recruit, but also bypasses another KTM stalwart Miguel Oliveira, runner up in Moto2 last year, and already making a good impression in his rookie MotoGP season, with a best finish of eighth in Austria, where he was given the latest version of the V4 engine for the first time.
The Portuguese rider was unable to hide his disappointment, talking to the press in Australia, where he thought that with one year’s MotoGP experience he would be a more obvious candidate to help developing the still maturing RC16 V4, which is yet to challenge for top positions.
“I want to look at the KTM relationship in the long term, and having chosen a rookie and a guy the same age as me makes me feel a bit like I’m not worthy enough to be there,” he said. KTM had spoken to him at Misano about using test rider Mika Kallio in place Zarco, but not about his own chances. “I had no participation in anything,” he told Dorna’s TV interviewer.
But KTM team manager Mike Leitner contradicted the Portuguese rider, saying that in fact he had been offered a place in the factory team, but had said he preferred to stay in the satellite team with his current crew chief. “He was the first rider we asked.”
Brad Binder stepped back from controversy, saying only: “It’s an awesome feeling, and quite unexpected. KTM have always looked after me, so I hope I can do a good job.”
KTM team chief Pit Beirer, in a written statement, said: “We decided to move in this direction and let the young, hungry guys with good experience in the other categories of MotoGP show us what they can do. Brad is a rider that has made his way through the KTM structure and we have no doubt whatsoever that he can walk into the Red Bull KTM team and keep showing that same style and never-give-up attitude we have seen for a long time.
“Iker comes into the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team and we’re super-confident that Hervé and his guys will be able to help and develop another rookie like they have done so well with Miguel this year.”
Quartararo Suffers Big Crash
Fabio Quartararo suffered a hard crash Friday, but is expected to race this weekend. (Gold & Goose photo)
Fabio Quartararo’s charmed first season in MotoGP ran into a big setback at the end of the drenched morning FP1 session, when he landed tangled with his bike after what would usually be a relatively innocuous crash at Siberia left-hand corner.
Instead he was flipped in a high side, and came to rest clutching his left ankle, to be stretchered away. In the Petronas Yamaha pit, manager Wilco Zeelenberg feared the worst – that he would be out not only of this race, but also the team’s home GP in Malaysia next weekend.
The 20-year-old class rookie, who has finished second in three of the last four races, took no further part in the action after a heavy dose of painkillers, but hoped to be back in the saddle on Saturday.
Tests at the medical centre revealed a painful haemotoma, but no broken bones, and he was declared fit to ride.
Pushing too hard in the wet took the blame.
“I don’t have enough experience in the rain … I have not done many, many laps, and I was trying to find a faster speed for that corner. Sometimes you have to make these things,” the rider said.
Another Amazing Marquez Save
Marc Marquez produced another save for the ages at Phillip Island. (Gold & Goose photo)
Marc Marquez has accomplished so many miracle saves that they are almost a cliché. But another at Phillip Island, in the late-afternoon tyre test, was special.
Coming out of the tight right-hand MG hairpin near the end of the lap, the front folded, and seemed to tuck right under as he tried to pick the bike up with his knee and elbow.
Somehow he succeeded, but the front was now at such an angle that the bike swerved violently off the inside of the track, and he had to wrench it over to the left to avoid running up the bank.
Directly afterwards he waved acknowledgement to the flabbergasted crowd, rejoined the asphalt, and continued unabated to top the session.
Tire Testing at Phillip Island
The one-off 20-minute tyre test got away with the weather. A dry track was essential, but gathering clouds threatening an imminent return of the morning squalls stayed away long enough for the late afternoon run to be completed.
Not only were Michelin pleased. The riders also had expressed great approval of the new rear tyre when it had been essayed at official mid-season tests at Barcelona, Brno and Misano. But Michelin were not prepared to include the new tyre in next year’s allocation without full endurance testing, and Phillip Island (a notoriously tyre-punishing track) was selected, and riders requested to run at least 11 uninterrupted laps.
“We have two compounds available for the test, and the tyre is asymmetrical like the normal tyres for this track,” explained Michelin chief Piero Taramasso.
“The compounds are the same. The difference is the construction, with better endurance.”
Marquez was fastest, but his time was four tenths off the immediately preceding FP2 top time set by Vinales. Andrea Iannone’s Aprilia was second-fastest, then Vinales, Dovizioso and Petrucci.
Zarco To Retire?
Johann Zarco is facing the possibility that he’s racing the final three races of his career. (Gold & Goose photo)
On the eve of his first outing on a Honda RC213V MotoGP bike, mercurial French former Moto2 champion Remy Gardner,
After two strong years and six podiums with Yamaha, Zarco switched to KTM, and ran into stasis. He was unable to change his smooth style to suit the aggressive bike, and vice versa, and after poor results and several tumbles he asked to be released early from his two-year contract.
The Austrian company let him go even earlier than he’d expected, and by the end of the European season he found himself without a ride.
Zarco was thought to be close to signing up as Yamaha’s official test rider when the call came from LCR Honda team owner Lucio Cecchinello. Team regular Takaaki Nakagami was to miss the last three races for shoulder surgery, and Zarco leapt at the chance to go racing again.
“The smile is there,” he told the pre-race press conference; “but it is difficult to fix a target. My first two years [in MotoGP] started well, but this year was really complicated.
“I took a big risk this summer stopping my contract,” he said. But when Lucio called, he leapt at the chance, even just for three races.
“It’s a short future, but I can face it with a lot of intensity … so I like it,” he said.
His first experience on the 2018 RC213V was in the streaming wet, and he was quickly up to speed, placed 13th overall. In the dry he placed 15th, 1.8 seconds off the top time set by Vinales’s Yamaha, but comfortingly two tenths ahead of Lorenzo on the factory Honda.
Rash of Crashes in the Rain
Remy Gardner,suffered one of the worst crashes Friday at Phillip Island. (Gold & Goose photo)
With all the morning sessions run in cold and rainy conditions, Moto2 had the worst of it, with a rash of crashes. One victim was Luca Marini, winner of the last two races, and the SKY VR46 Kalex rider sat out the rest of the session, not have completed a full lap, and clutching at his painful left shoulder, the cause of many problems during the season.
Points leader Alex Marquez also tumbled on his out lap, but at low speed.
Thereafter came a rash of crashes, with the worst victim Remy Gardner, with a tumbling high-speed high-sider at the fast Hayshed corner. He was lucky to walk away, but his bike was badly damaged, with the front forks broken off.
In between, other victims included Fabio di Giannantonio, Lorenzo Baldassarri, Xavier Vierge, Somkiat Chantra, Enea Bastianini, Dimas Ekky Pratama (twice), Xavier Cardelus and Jake Dixon.
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