Despite difficult free practice, Valentino Rossi recovered well during the first qualifying practice session for the Australian Grand Prix. He qualified brilliantly for Q2 alongside Bradley Smith.
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#AustralianGP MotoGP™ |
2016 |
2017 |
| FP1 | 1'40.957 Cal Crutchlow (See here) | 1'29.602 Marc Marquez (See here) |
| FP2 |
1'51.958 Hector Barbera (See here) |
1'29.225 Aleix Espargaro (See here) |
| FP3 |
1'33.155 Marc Marquez (See here) |
1'38.522 Marc Marquez (See here) |
| FP4 |
1'36.810 Nicky Hayden (See here) |
1'29.541 Marc Marquez (See here) |
| Qualification 1 |
1'38.467 Cal Crutchlow (See here) |
1'29.346 Valentino Rossi |
| Qualification 2 |
1'30.189 Marc Marquez (See here) |
|
| Warm Up |
1'29.897 Marc Marquez (See here) |
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| Course | Crutchlow, Rossi, Vinales (See here) | |
| All time lap record |
1'27.899 Jorge Lorenzo 2013 |
Three logical favorites emerged from the field with Jorge Lorenzo (although slightly injured in an ankle), Valentino Rossi and Danilo Petrucci. But others like Alex Rins had not said their last word. It was the second time this year that Rossi had to go through Q1 after Barcelona. Jorge Lorenzo was opposed for this qualification to Valentino Rossi, Karel Abraham, Bradley Smith, Alex Rins, Scott Redding, Danilo Petrucci, Loris Baz, Tito Rabat , Sam Lowes, Hector Barbera, Alvaro Bautista and Broc Parkes.
Hardly time to make a cup of tea!#MotoGP Q1 is on – all eyes on @ valeyellow46 and @ lorenzo99 👀#AustralianGP pic.twitter.com/ugoLZMhIL9
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) October 21, 2017
During the first of the two runs, Jorge Lorenzo was the fastest in 1'30.085, 0.06 ahead of Karel Abraham and 0.2 ahead of Tito Rabat. Valentino Rossi was sixth at 0.6.
Then Rossi took the lead in 1'29.665, 0.1 ahead of Alex Rins. Lorenzo was then only sixth and Danilo Petrucci seventh.
During the second and final run, Valentino Rossi improved his best time to 1'29.346 (note the last two figures!). Danilo Petrucci fell in turn 10 without gravity. Rossi qualified alongside Bradley Smith.
Q1 results:
#AustralianGP MotoGP qualifying ranking:
| Q1 Results: | ||||||
| Q2 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'29.346 | ||
| Q2 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | 1'29.705 | 0.359 | 0.359 |
| 13 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'29.824 | 0.478 | 0.119 |
| 14 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Honda | 1'29.847 | 0.501 | 0.023 |
| 15 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'29.961 | 0.615 | 0.114 |
| 16 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'30.085 | 0.739 | 0.124 |
| 17 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Ducati | 1'30.224 | 0.878 | 0.139 |
| 18 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'30.471 | 1.125 | 0.247 |
| 19 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | 1'30.543 | 1.197 | 0.072 |
| 20 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Ducati | 1'30.806 | 1.460 | 0.263 |
| 21 | 23 | Broc PARKES | Yamaha | 1'30.889 | 1.543 | 0.083 |
| 22 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 1'30.900 | 1.554 | 0.011 |
| 23 | 22 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia | 1'31.158 | 1.812 | 0.258 |
Reference times:
Test record: 1'27.899 by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in 2013
Lap record: 1'28.108 by Marc Marquez (Honda) in 2013
Best top speed: 348,0 km/h for Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) in 2015
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 244 points
2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 233
3 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 203
4 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 170
5 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 168
6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 125
7 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 116
8 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 111
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 92
10 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 84
11 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Ducati 70
12 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia 62
13 Jack MILLER-Honda 56
14 Scott REDDING-Ducati 56
15 Andrea IANNONE-Suzuki 50
16 Loris BAZ-Ducati 45
Photo © Yamaha
