Marc Marquez Caught Between the Aprilia Riders, Marco Bezzecchi Leads the Way

The pre-qualifying sessions for the Australian Grand Prix, held at Phillip Island just as the sun was rising in Italy, ended with Aprilia dominating the field. Marco Bezzecchi set the fastest time with a lap of 1:26.775 in a session dominated by Aprilia, which placed all four of its bikes in the top five spots on the leaderboard.

In second place was Raul Fernandez of Trackhouse Racing, with a best lap time 72 thousandths of a second slower than “Bez’s.” Behind them was the only Ducati in the top 5, ridden by Marc Marquez, 126 thousandths behind. Ai Ogura, another Trackhouse rider, was the same distance back and officially ranked fourth for having set his time after Marquez. World Championship leader Jorge Martin was fifth, 255 thousandths behind.

While Marc Marquez is the only rider to have managed to break into Aprilia’s dominance, his brother Alex (Ducati Gresini) leads the group of challengers, with the sixth-fastest time overall, 375 thousandths behind Bezzecchi. Also advancing directly to Q2 was a strong Enea Bastianini (KTM Tech3, +0.407), along with Pedro Acosta (KTM, +0.433), Diogo Moreira (Honda LCR, +0.744), and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati VR46, +0.756).

Meanwhile, Johan Zarco (Honda LCR, +0.782), Jack Miller (Yamaha Pramac, +0.823), Brad Binder (KTM, +0.880), Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati, +0.952), Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha, +1.051), Iker Lecuona (Ducati Gresini, +1.065), Franco Morbidelli (Ducati VR46, +1.204), Alex Rins (Yamaha, +1.341), Maverick Viñales (+1.377), and Augusto Fernández (Yamaha Pramac, +2.045). Luca Marini did not take to the track, having arrived at Phillip Island with a fever and muscle aches. His participation on Saturday is still in doubt.