Jorge Martin has snatched pole for the Australian Grand Prix with an all-time motorcycling track record.

The Pramac rider’s best time of 1:27.767 is the fastest anyone has ever lapped the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on a bike, breaking the nine-year-old record previously held by Jorge Lorenzo previous set at 1:27.899.

It secured him top qualifying spot by just 0.013 seconds ahead of Marc Márquez and 0.186 seconds ahead of Francesco Bagnaia.

“Today I had good pace,” he said. ”I feel strong for the race also.

“For time attack I thought I could also be competitive — not that much for sure!

“Making a 27 [seconds] — I mean, this is amazing. I’m feeling great. I think we can fight until the end tomorrow.”

Márquez has Bagnaia to thank for his front-row qualifying spot, having slipstreamed him shamelessly during the second runs and picking up a valuable slipstream that put him ahead of the Ducati on their final attempts.

“That was the only chance to be on the front row,” he said. “I played my cards.

“Of course it’s not the best way to do the lap time, but we are here for competing and we are here to try to do our best.”

Márquez’s session was highlighted by a phenomenal save of a front snap out of MG — a proper old-school Marc rescue — that the Spaniard said was down to him feeling increasingly better on the bike,

“On the physical side I feel better, and this is the key point for me,” he said.

Bagnaia is at the head of a title-contending trio, heading Aleix Espargaró by 0.016 seconds and championship leader Fabio Quartararo by 0.05 seconds.

The Italian said the only important this was his position relative to his championship rivals rather than ultimate grid position.

“In qualifying I pushed from the start,” he said. “I was knowing that a lot of riders were behind me, but it doesn’t matter, it’s okay.

“My challenge is between me and Fabio, so I’m happy that I’m in front.”

But Quartararo will be particularly pleased to start on the second row and with a view of the first corner knowing that this is the last best circuit on the calendar for his Yamaha.

Johann Zarco, who came from Q1, will join him on the second row.

Luca Marini and Jack Miller were seventh and eighth, the Australian 0.349 seconds off the pace despite what had been a strong turnaround on Saturday morning during practice. Marco Bezzecchi, with a shot at securing rookie of the year this weekend, will join them in ninth.

Álex Rins progressed from Q1 to qualify 10th ahead of Alex Márquez and Maverick Viñales.

In Q1, Zarco progressed as expected, the Ducati rider having topped both Friday practice sessions for Pramac.

Rins followed him through on his Suzuki, pipping a late-improving Enea Bastianini for a spot in Q2.

Bastianini’s last flying lap came very late after the flag and appeared to be impeded at Lukey Heights by a slow Miguel Oliveira, who wasn’t expecting another rider to still be circulating.

The stewards were looking into the incident.

Pol Espargaró followed ahead of Joan Mir, Brad Binder, Cal Crutchlow, Darryn Binder, Remy Gardner, Fabio di Giannantonio, Miguel Oliveira, Raúl Fernando, Franco Morbidelli and Tetsuta Nagashima, who’s substituting the injury Takaaki Nakagami.

Australian Grand Prix provisional grid

1. Jorge Martin (Pramac), 2. Marc Márquez (Honda), 3. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati)

4. Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia), 5. Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), 6. Johann Zarco (Pramac)

7. Luca Marini (VR46), 8. Jack Miller (Ducati), 9. Marco Bezzecchi (VR46)

10. Álex Rins (Suzuki), 11. Alex Márquez (LCR), 12. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia)

13. Enea Bastianini (Gresini), 14. Pol Espargaró (Honda), 15. Joan Mir (Suzuki)

16. Brad Binder (KTM), 17. Cal Crutchlow (RNF), 18. Darryn Binder (RNF)

19. Remy Gardner (Tech3), 20. Fabio di Giannantonio (Gresini), 21. Miguel Oliveira (KTM)

22. Raúl Fernandez (Tech3), 23. Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha), 24. Tetsuta Nagashima (LCR)

SASAKI ON POLE BUT KELSO SLUMPS TO 14TH IN MOTO3 QUALIFYING

Ayumu Sasaki will start tomorrow’s Moto3 race from pole after dominating qualifying with a new class track record around Phillip Island.

The Husqvarna rider needed only two flying laps to post his unbeatable time of 1:35.854, more than 0.2 seconds quicker than the rest of the field.

Australian Joel Kelso will line up 14th after tumbling down the order late.

Kelso was running as high as fourth earlier in the session but dropped to 10th with the final runs.

Four hot laps in quick succession after the flag from Izan Guevara, Ivan Ortolà, Stefano Nepa and Daniel Holgado, perfectly timed to make the most of the improving conditions, then dumped him to 14th on the grid.

Ortolà’s lap was quick enough for third, the first front-row start of his Moto3 career.

Championship leader Guevara improved to seventh and will line up five places ahead of his chief title challenger, Dennis Foggia, but behind outside chances Sasaki on pole and Sergio Garcia in second.

Guevara needs to outscore Foggia by at least two points and not lose more than six points to Sergio Garcia and 20 points to Sasaki to win the title on Sunday.

If the field finishes as it qualified, Garcia would deny Guevara an early championship.

MARQUEZ DOMINATES FP3 AS MILLER REBOUNDS FROM FRIDAY FUNK

Jack Miller has secured direct qualification for Q2 in a frenetic FP3 session dominated by Marc Márquez.

Championship leader Fabio Quartararo was a late improver to join chief title contenders Francesco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaró in the pole-setting session, sneaking into the top 10 by just 0.045 seconds.

Márquez, a three-time Australian Grand Prix winner, was clear at the head of the field with a 0.13-second advantage. The riders between second and 10th were split by just 0.266.

There were concerns that track conditions on Saturday morning would be too cool and blustery for riders to improve their FP2 times, but bright sunshine and a calmer breeze meant the circuit was offering significantly more grip for the crucial qualifying-arranging session.

Miller was the rider most under pressure, having missed out on the crucial top-10 cut-off window on Friday while most of the rest of the title contenders looked set to safely progress.

The Australian left his soft tyre run late, but after making some set-up changes overnight, he was blistering in quali trim to put himself in the top six, a 1.3-second improvement on his previous day’s best effort.

Luca Marini was the fastest Ducati, putting his VR46 machine second to Márquez and ahead of Pramac’s Jorge Martin.

Aleix Espargaró spent most of the session at risk of dropping out of the 10 before a late improvement secured him fourth ahead of Marco Bezzecchi and Miller.

Alex Márquez won his LCR Honda an unexpected top-10 berth ahead of chief title contender Francesco Bagnaia.

Maverick Viñales was ninth on the second Aprilia ahead of Quartararo, whose final lap after the chequered flag snuck him into the 10 at the expense of Johann Zarco, who had dominated both Friday practice sessions.

Title contender Enea Bastianini could manage only 14th and will be forced to battle for the two Q1 spots that will earn him promotion to the pole shootout. Brad Binder, who’s still in mathematical contention, was also trapped in the bottom half of the time sheet at an uncompetitive 20th on his KTM machine.

Aussie Remy Gardner was 22nd on the Tech3 satellite KTM.

QUARTARARO IN PUNCHY MOOD AHEAD OF CRITICAL QUALI

Fabio Quartararo’s season has been defined by turning up to circuits and clinging on for dear life.

With his bike largely unchanged compared to last year’s model, he and the team understand innately how to set it up for each track before they show up, meaning they have nothing in the bag to respond with as other riders turn up the heat.

But for the first time in months the championship leader has walked away from a Friday practice day having left something on the table.

It’s not a bad result given he was fourth and only 0.139 seconds off session-topper Johann Zarco.

“I feel I was also riding well … and feeling also like I have a margin in a few corners that can make me one tenth here, one tenth there, so at the end of a race it can make a big change,” he said.

“Today was one of the first days that we really felt that we have to make a few changes, because in general as soon as we start the weekend we finish the weekend with the same bike.

“Today, at this kind of track, which is quite different to every track, we’ve made a few changes and have a few changes for tomorrow.”

And even if the pace doesn’t come to him in time for qualifying, he was optimistic that ground could still be recovered in the race even from a lower grid spot, something that’s typically hamstrung the M1 with high tyre pressure from following in traffic.

“I think our pace is quite okay,” he said. “I’ve got a few places I think I can overtake on this track, so I think it should be quite a good track.”

ESPARGARÓ ‘NEEDS’ PHILLIP ISLAND VICTORY FOR TITLE HOPES

Championship contender Aleix Espargaró reckons winning the Australian Grand Prix this weekend is the minimum requirement to stay in the title hunt ahead of the final two rounds.

Espargaró is 20 points behind championship leader Fabio Quartararo, but with only three races still to go, he needs both Quartararo and Bagnaia, who’s 18 points up the road, to trip up if he’s to close the gap.

The Argentine Grand Prix winner was seventh at the end of Friday, 0.357 seconds slower than leader Zarco.

The weight of two missed opportunities in Japan and Thailand — the former due to a bike problem on the grid, the latter just a difficult ride in Buriram — is heavy on the Spaniard’s shoulders, but a positive Friday at Phillip Island has left him hopeful big results could still be coming his way before the end of the year.

“I felt fast again after two difficult tracks for me with a normal tyre and on a fast track,” he said, comparing the flowing Phillip Island to the two more extreme previous circuits. “I felt like I could fight on top again, so I’m happy.

“I need to win if I’m to fight for the title.”

“Twenty points seems not so much, but when the reality is that you’re against Pecco and Fabio with only three races, 20 points is quite a lot.

“We have to wait and see, but my pace is strong.

“Fabio’s pace is not better than mine, Pecco’s is not really — he’s not on his best circuit for the moment — and Jack’s neither.

“We have to wait and see, because today was easy to make a mistake and have a big crash. I think everyone was quite relaxed today — relaxed is maybe not the right word here in Phillip Island — but we have to wait and see.”

Espargaró’s teammate, Maverick Viñales, was fifth in the Friday order at 0.27 seconds off the pace.

BIG RED BUTTON PROPOSED BY RIDERS AS SAFETY MEASURE

MotoGP riders are considering proposing for bikes to be installed with buttons that would prompt race control to wave red flags when they feel the track is too hazardous after a difficult day in the wind at Phillip Island.

The button would be used to alert race control to dangers not immediately apparent to those watching from the control tower or via television, such as high winds, or unexpected amounts of water in the kerbs, that could risk accident or injury during a session.

Race control would have to use the red flag if a majority of riders used the red button in such a situation.

Qualifying at Phillip Island was famously postponed to Sunday in 2019 after high winds made the track unrideable on Saturday afternoon, and while conditions weren’t as gusty on Friday this year, combined with the still damp kerbs, some riders felt it was close to the limit.

“It’s difficult also to take this [red flag] decision,” Luca Marini said, per The Race. “I think [ the International Road-racing Teams Association] or Dorna or the director, when they need to take this kind of decision, it’s not an easy job for them because they are not on track.

“They are here [in the paddock], and from here you don’t feel the wind. So we are asking to them, also in the safety commission, to have a button, to push it, and then maybe if 80 per cent of the grid push this button, also in a race for example, they can have a red flag — to just send them more information.

“Because if you look at the race from the TV, you don’t see nothing.”

Marini said car racing got around this situation because drivers have pit-to-car radio, but riders don’t have the luxury of verbal communication.

“We cannot speak — much too difficult to speak — but pushing a button we can do easily because we are all around the lap pushing something. One more is not a problem.

“We are open also to try other things, but this was the easiest one.”

HOW CAN I WATCH IT?

Every practice, qualifying and race of the 2022 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix is live and ad-break free during racing on Kayo and Fox Sports 506.

Saturday

Moto3 third practice: 9am (all times AEDT)

MotoGP third practice: 9:55am

Moto2 third practice: 10:55am

Moto3 qualifying: 12:35pm

MotoGP fourth practice: 1:30pm

MotoGP qualifying: 2:10pm

Moto2 qualifying: 3:10pm

Sunday — live from the paddock at 8:45am

Moto3 warm-up: 9am (AEDT)

Moto2 warm-up: 9:20am

MotoGP warm-up: 9:40am

Moto3 race: 11am

Moto2 race: 12:20pm

MotoGP race: 2pm