Marc Marquez took pole for MotoGP’s Australian Grand Prix by a staggering 1.5 seconds at a wet Phillip Island, despite crashing on his first Q2 lap.
With fresh rain falling as Q2 began, that low-side crash into the Miller corner looked like it might leave Marquez a disastrous 12th on the grid.
But he managed to remount his Ducati, the rain eased again, and with the track to himself for his next lap Marquez jumped to pole.
Rain ace Johann Zarco had been fastest at first and did take provisional pole back from Marquez for a while on the next runs.
Then Marquez utterly blew everyone else away on the last laps of the session though, putting in a 1m34.203s that was an astonishing 1.494s faster than the eventual second-place rider, his brother Alex on the Gresini Ducati.
Zarco kept his LCR Honda on the front row in third.
Marquez’s title rival Jorge Martin never looked like he had pole pace in the damp but making it back up to fourth on the grid with his last lap counts as a very good save considering Marquez’s pace.
Martin’s long-shot championship contender Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi didn’t manage that – he starts only ninth for the weekend’s two races.
Home hero Jack Miller was fastest in Q1 and briefly had a provisional front row in Q2 before ending up a still heartwarming fifth for Pramac Yamaha.
Performances varied in the conditions, with Marquez’s astonishing pole at one end of the field in stark contrast to how far off the pace tail end pair Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli were in 19th and 20th on the reduced grid that will lack any factory Hondas following the unwell Luca Marini’s withdrawal.
