MotoGP Australia FP2 LIVE: Johann Zarco still leads, Quartararo fourth, Bagnaia eighth

Before this Australian Grand Prix, at the Thai Grand Prix, Miguel Oliveira won for the fifth time in MotoGP with Styria and Portugal in 2020, Catalunya in 2021, and Indonesia this season. With Ducati's Dutch TT victory at the Japanese Grand Prix and KTM's victory in Thailand, it is the first time that European motorcycles have won seven successive races in the premier class since 1973-1974.

Jack Miller finished second in Buriram for his 21st podium with Ducati in MotoGP, and he is getting closer to Loris Capirossi who is third on the list of Ducati riders with the most podiums in the premier class with 23, behind Casey Stoner (42) et Andrea Dovizioso (40) Francesco Bagnaia finished third in the Thai GP for his 18th MotoGP podium, all with Ducati, three fewer than teammate Jack Miller.

With Miller et bagnaia, this is the 23rd consecutive MotoGP race with at least one rider Ducati on the podium, thus extending the Bologna factory record in this category. The pilots Ducati have reached 28 podiums since Qatar. Ducati becomes the first manufacturer with 28 podiums in a single season in the premier category since Yamaha in 2015 (28 podiums). The last manufacturer to have more than 28 podiums in a single season in this category is Honda in 2013 (30).

At the Thai GP, Marc Marquez finished fifth and since returning from surgery at the Aragon GP (three races) he has scored one point less than half the points accumulated by all other drivers Honda since his last race before his operation (24 points against 49). Franco Morbidelli finished 13th in the Thai GP after a 3-second penalty for exceeding track limits on the final lap. He was the best pilot Yamaha for the first time since Spain last year.

With Morbidely as first pilot Yamaha in 13th position, this is the third consecutive race in the premier category where there is no Yamaha in the top seven, which had not happened since 1994, from the Spanish GP to the German GP. At the Thai GP, fabio quartararo finished 17th for his second worst result in MotoGP after the Aragon GP in 2020 where he was P18. This is the third time he has failed to score a point at the finish line in MotoGP after Qatar in 2019 (P16) and Aragon in 2020 (P18).

Despite a fall in the fourth lap, Luca Marini finished 23rd, meaning he has finished all 35 of his MotoGP races since debuting in the category last year. Raul fernandez finished 15th and he is the only one of this year's five MotoGP rookies to enter the points for the second time with San Marino. Marco Bezzecchi, who finished 16th in Thailand, is still leading the fight for the title of “Rookie of the Year” with 80 points ahead Fabio DiGiannantonio (23 points), Darryn Binder (10) Remy gardner (9) et Fernandez (9). None of the five rookies in MotoGP this year have won at the Australian GP in one of the smaller classes. However, Fabio DiGiannantonio (P2 in Moto3™ in 2018) is the only one of them to be on the podium

What will this FP2 have in store for us which will close the day on Friday for the MotoGP in this Australian Grand Prix? Before knowing it, here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

Phillip Island MotoGP™	2019	2022
FP1	1'38.957 Maverick Viñales (See here)	1'30.368 Johann Zarco (See here)
FP2	1'28.824 Maverick Viñales (See here)	1'29.475 Johann Zarco (See here)
FP3	1'31.338 Maverick Viñales (See here)
FP4	1'31.185 Marc Márquez (See here)
Q1	1'28.949 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
Q2	1'28.492 Maverick Viñales (See here)
Warm-up	1'29.396 Maverick Viñales (See here)
Course	M. Marquez, Crutchlow, Miller (See here)
All time lap record	1'27.899 Jorge Lorenzo (2013)

Johann zarco achieved the best overall performance during the first free practice session of the Australian Grand Prix in the MotoGP category, 18th stage of the 2022 World Championship. The Ducati Pramac team rider stopped the time at 1'30.368 , in front of the premises Jack Miller (Ducati) at 0.091s and an excellent Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) at 0.125s. Fourth beat for alex rins which leads the Suzuki ahead of the ApriliaAleix I will espargaro et Enea Bastianini (Ducati Gresini).

After spending most of the session in the lead, Marc Marquez (Honda) finished seventh ahead Francis Bagnaia (Ducati), in difficulty in the first half of the session but fast on the race pace and the Ducati rookie Fabio DiGiannantonio (Gresini) and Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), completing the top 10. After a good start to the session, the world leader fabio quartararo (Yamaha) finished far from the top, 12th, 8 tenths behind. but as bagnaia, he is fast on the pace of the race.

16° in the air, 23° on an increasingly dry track, no risk of rain but a wind blowing at 23 km/h are the conditions offered to the pilots. The wind has already caused an interruption of the session during FP1 of Moto2 because four riders fell in a very short time.

The Phillip Island track is slowly drying out, with the passage of Moto3 riders: this means that the second MotoGP test session will take place on dry asphalt in many sections of the track. MotoGP riders will be hunting more than ever for the top ten to enter Q2 this Friday given the uncertain weather conditions at Phillip Island.

After these few scares, let's go for the session...

Maverick Vinales opens FP2 with a lap of 1'31.016s. Almost all drivers use medium tires, only Marc Marquez (hard front), Nagashima (soft front), bastianini et Alex Marquez (soft rear) as well as Crutchlow et Kidneys (hard rear) come out of the row. Stoner et Vermeulen enjoy the spectacle of the Ducati stand.

After 10 minutes,  Marc Marquez sets a new benchmark in 1:30.126 minutes. Quarterly is third.

Quarterly is less than 0,225 seconds off the best time after the second attempt, meaning he moves into P3 behind Viñales. This also placed him in the combined top ten while bagnaia came out. He is lagging behind the leading group, at the moment Pecco is in 16th place.

Among the current top ten, only zarco et Miller still need to improve since FP1. However, their FP1 times are still good enough to finish 4th and 5th in the combined standings. There is little activity on the track at the moment as almost all drivers have completed their first run and returned to the pits after 7-8 laps.

Aerodynamic appendages that are very reminiscent of those of Ducati make their entrance on the fairings Honda.

Bagnaia loses control of the motorcycle for a moment , keeps his balance on his Ducati, but it is clear that Pecco has some small adjustment problems. His lap times are still quite slow, he doesn't seem to be in the flow yet. He is currently only P23, 2,3 seconds behind.

bagnaia runs with a set of new tires, but at the moment he is only 17th. He can't improve his morning times. Pecco at this point appears to be slightly struggling.

Less than 20 minutes at the end of this session, here is the ranking with Marc Marquez in front of everybody.

The attacks on the clock will begin soon. The conditions look good to see the first laps under the 1'30 barrier. There are 10 minutes left. bagnaia also picked up the pace a bit, reaching 11th place in 1'30.689. His deficit is still 0,563 seconds. Mir improves, he is sixth in 1'30.611.

The track empties again, many drivers are back in the pits. bagnaia stays away and reduces the gap to 0,525 seconds, moving up to 8th place. It's always better than bastianini, anonymous 16th in front all the same Miller.

Morbidely opens the attack against the clock in the last minutes of this FP2 but fails to exceed P18 in 1: 31.130. He is 1.004 seconds behind the best time. Bezzecchi places himself in front of everyone, first driver to pass under the 1'30 wall. Comes next Casa Particular in Viñales which is still improving. Pol Espargaro is 3rd after the first timed attack.

fabio quartararo snatches the best time, but Casa Particular in Viñales continues to improve. But it's zarco which slams a 1'29.475.

Under the checkered flag in Australia, zarco leads ahead Bezzecchi, Pol Espargaró, Fabio Quartararo, Vinales et Marc Marquez. Aleix Espargaro is seventh, bagnaia eighth in front bastianini et Martin which closes the top 10 at Oliveira. Miller is only 13th.

MotoGP Australian Grand Prix FP2 results at Phillip Island:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com