MotoGP Australian GP: Fabio Quartararo snatches pole…

Factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo claimed his fifth pole position of the 2025 MotoGP season in the Australian Grand Prix, as Ducati’s streak of front-row starts in MotoGP came to an end.

Heading into Saturday’s qualifying session, Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi was the favourite for pole position, having topped Friday practice by almost three-tenths of a second.

In the second half of Q2, he shot to the top with an impressive time of 1m26.496s, which was just a shade slower than the record time he had set in practice in hotter conditions on Friday afternoon.

However, 2021 champion Quartararo pulled something special out of the bag seconds after the chequered flag was waved, going under the circuit record with a 1m26.465s.

This marked the continuation of Yamaha’s improved form at Phillip Island, and followed Quartararo’s third-place qualifying effort in San Marino last month.

Bezzecchi hung on to second place, but will have to serve a double long-lap penalty in Sunday's race for causing a collision in Indonesia last time out.

Home favourite Jack Miller came from Q1 to secure his first front-row performance of the year, taking third with a best effort of 1m26.708s on his Pramac-entered Yamaha.

Raul Fernandez ended up fourth on the Trackhouse Aprilia, while Pedro Acosta qualified a solid fifth on the KTM.

Gresini rider Alex Marquez endured a wretched qualifying as he crashed twice in Q2, first at Turn 4 and then late on at Turn 1. However, having set the early pace in the session, the younger Marquez still ended up as the top Ducati in sixth.

But this does mean that Ducati’s streak of front-row starts stretching back to Valencia 2020 came to an end, with Marc Marquez absent from the weekend and no other rider from Borgo Panigale stepping up in his absence.

Jack Miller, Pramac Racing (Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images)

Alex Marquez’s team-mate and Indonesia winner Fermin Aldeguer finished just behind in seventh, while Fabio di Giannantonio qualified a distant 10th for VR46 and factory rider Francesco Bagnaia could only manage 11th with a time that was over eight tenths off the pace.

Between Aldeguer and di Giannantonio, KTM wildcard Pol Espargaro qualified eighth, with Luca Marini grabbing ninth place on the top Honda.

Yamaha’s Alex Rins was 12th and slowest among Q2 runners.

The fifth row of the grid will be shared by the KTM of Brad Binder and Honda riders Joan Mir and Johann Zarco.

Update: Both Bagnaia and Binder have been handed three-place grid penalties for riding slowly and impeding other riders in qualifying.

Bagnaia will now start the race from 14th on the grid, with Binder demoted to 16th place.

Australian GP - Q2 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	9	1'26.465		185.194
2	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	8	+0.031 1'26.496	0.031	185.127
3	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	8	+0.243 1'26.708	0.212	184.675
4	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	9	+0.386 1'26.851	0.143	184.370
5	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	9	+0.409 1'26.874	0.023	184.322
6	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	5	+0.455 1'26.920	0.046	184.224
7	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	6	+0.530 1'26.995	0.075	184.065
8	P. Espargaro Tech 3	44	KTM	8	+0.530 1'26.995	0.000	184.065
9	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	8	+0.630 1'27.095	0.100	183.854
10	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	9	+0.651 1'27.116	0.021	183.810
11	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	8	+0.820 1'27.285	0.169	183.454
12	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	8	+1.026 1'27.491	0.206	183.022
View full results

Q1 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	8	1'27.071		183.905
2	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	7	+0.009 1'27.080	0.009	183.886	349
3	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	8	+0.038 1'27.109	0.029	183.824	351
4	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	9	+0.209 1'27.280	0.171	183.464	351
5	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	9	+0.321 1'27.392	0.112	183.229	349
6	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	8	+0.655 1'27.726	0.334	182.531	345
7	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	8	+0.718 1'27.789	0.063	182.400	349
8	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	9	+0.746 1'27.817	0.028	182.342	348
9	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	4	+1.085 1'28.156	0.339	181.641	348
10	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	7	+1.140 1'28.211	0.055	181.528	349
11	S. Chantra Team LCR	35	Honda	9	+1.202 1'28.273	0.062	181.400	337
12	M. Pirro Ducati Team	51	Ducati	8	+1.380 1'28.451	0.178	181.035	344
View full results