Australian Grand Prix, Phillip Island, Moto2 Qualifying: Pasini on pole despite a crash. Bagnaia and Oliveira far from the mark.

The Moto2s attack their qualifications before those of the MotoGP on this Phillip Island track which hosts the Australian Grand Prix. Brad Binder presented himself as the fastest man in previous sessions, but he fell heavily this morning. The challenge will be to follow the duel between Oliveira and bagnaia, the latter being able to be titled in this round if he scores more than thirteen points than the first named and official KTM. A third man will not want to witness the passive spectacle. This one is a Schrotter who has also shown his speed since the start of this weekend.

So, what is the verdict on these qualifications? Before answering this question, here is a summary table of the results compared between 2017 and 2018 on the Phillip Island circuit in Moto2:

Phillip Island Moto2™	2017	2018
FP1	1'33.313 Takaaki Nakagami	1'33.788 Marcel Schrotter
FP2	1'33.310 Takaaki Nakagami	1'33.701 Brad Binder
FP3	1'33.919 Miguel Oliveira	1'34.143 Marcel Schrotter
Qualification	1'33.300 Mattia Pasini	1'33.368 Mattia Pasini
Warm Up	1'46.620 Francesco Bagnaia
Course	Oliveira, Binder, Morbidelli
All time lap record	1'32.470 Tito Rabat 2014

16° in the air and 26° on the track which is dry will be the working conditions of the set. In 1'34.342, Pasini signs the first reference. In 1'33.949, agitated answered him. He is ahead Quarterly. Soots fall at turn 2. The Frenchman at the SpeedUp was then passed by Alex Marquez for 57 thousandths.

In 1'33.994, Pasini joined agitated in the zone of less than 1'34 per lap. agitated improves in 1'33.841 and lecuona did a 1'33.988 which announces him as one of the favorites for this session. Alex Marquez fall at turn 9. It will be recalled that he is still recovering from a violent fall in Japan. Footage shows he hit a Odendal which suddenly slowed down on the trajectory.

After a quarter of an hour, Schrotter is third, Quarterly eighth, bagnaia thirteenth and agitated leader. But Pasini shakes all that up with a 1'33.368 which is by far the fastest performance of the weekend, and which brings him closer to his own pole position from last year achieved in 1'33.300...

Virgin follows by more than three tenths and agitated remains in the top three. bagnaia is fourteenth, but Olive tree is seventeenth in front of his teammate Binder.

Manzi falls violently at turn 2. This is his 31st fall of the season... He is evacuated on a stretcher. lecuona also does it in the same turn a few minutes later. Schrotter is placed third as the last quarter of an hour looms on the horizon. Nagashima crash at turn 4. He was 21st. We learn thatAlex Marquez, still sixth, will not return to the track following his fall. He received a blow to the head. Locatelli crash at turn 4. He was 19th.

The top 5 is in 1'33 with Pasini, Schrotter, Virgin, agitated et lecuona. The end of the exercise is announced with a bagnaia and Olive tree still out of the top 10. This is the moment when Quarterly joins the top 5 in 1'33.951.

In 1'33929, Brad Binder returns to the top of the table with the fifth performance. Pasini fall at turn 4 as the last five minutes began.

The finale gives us a Pasini who maintains his advantage despite his fall in front Schrotter et Virgin. agitated follows, Binder closes the top 5 at Quarterly, Marquez is ninth despite only being shot very little before its fall. bagnaia is a disappointed sixteenth, but what can I sayOlive tree, anonymous twentieth…?

Australian Grand Prix, Phillip Island, Moto2 Qualifying: times.

1	Mattia PASINI	01'33.368		54	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex
2	Marcel SCHROTTER	01'33.624	+0.256 / 0.256	23	GER	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex
3	Xavi VIRGIN	01'33.721	+0.353 / 0.097	97	SPA	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex
4	Dominique AEGERTER	01'33.841	+0.473 / 0.120	77	SWI	Kiefer Racing	KTM
5	Brad BINDER	01'33.929	+0.561 / 0.088	41	RSA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM
6	Fabio QUARTARARO	01'33.951	+0.583 / 0.022	20	FRA	MB Conveyors – Speed ​​Up	Speed ​​Up
7	Luca MARINI	01'33.963	+0.595 / 0.012	10	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex
8	Iker LECUONA	01'33.988	+0.620 / 0.025	27	SPA	Swiss Innovative Investors	KTM
9	Alex MARQUEZ	01'34.07	+0.639 / 0.019	73	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex
10	Jesko RAFFIN	01'34.39	+0.671 / 0.032	2	SWI	SAG Team	Kalex
11	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	01'34.5	+0.682 / 0.011	7	ITA	Pons HP40	Kalex
12	Jorge NAVARRO	01'34.86	+0.718 / 0.036	9	SPA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex
13	Augusto FERNANDEZ	01'34.94	+0.726 / 0.008	40	SPA	Pons HP40	Kalex
14	Joan Mir	01'34.149	+0.781 / 0.055	36	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex
15	Remy GARDNER	01'34.181	+0.813 / 0.032	87	AUS	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3
16	Francesco BAGNAIA	01'34.367	+0.999 / 0.186	42	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex
17	Stefano MANZI	01'34.413	+1.045 / 0.046	62	ITA	Forward Racing Team	Suter
18	Andrea LOCATELLI	01'34.491	+1.123 / 0.078	5	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex
19	Sam LOWES	01'34.54	+1.172 / 0.049	22	GBR	Swiss Innovative Investors	KTM
20	Miguel OLIVEIRA	01'34.556	+1.188 / 0.016	44	POR	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM
21	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	01'34.784	+1.416 / 0.228	45	JPN	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex
22	Edgar PONS	01'34.844	+1.476 / 0.060	57	SPA	MB Conveyors – Speed ​​Up	Speed ​​Up
23	Khairul Idham PAWI	01'34.85	+1.482 / 0.006	89	MAL	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex
24	Joe ROBERTS	01'34.851	+1.483 / 0.001	16	USA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS
25	Simone CORSI	01'34.934	+1.566 / 0.083	24	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex
26	Steven ODENDAAL	01'34.958	+1.590 / 0.024	4	RSA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS
-1	Niki TUULI	00'00.		66	END	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex
27	Bryan STARING	01'35.76	+2.392 / 0.802	67	AUS	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3
28	Jules DANILO	01'35.978	+2.610 / 0.218	95	FRA	Nashi Argan SAG Team	Kalex
29	Federico FULIGNI	01'35.986	+2.618 / 0.008	21	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex
30	Isaac VIÑALES	01'36.173	+2.805 / 0.187	32	SPA	Forward Racing Team	Suter
31	Xavi CARDELUS	01'37.65	+3.697 / 0.892	18	AND	Marinelli Snipers Team	Kalex