PHILIP ISLAND, Australia: World championship leader Marc Marquez swept to pole position with a flying lap in the final seconds of qualifying Saturday for the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island.
Marquez grabbed his 44th pole in his 88th MotoGP with a best lap time of one minute 28.386 seconds.
The Spanish Honda rider, who leads the world championship by 11 points with three rounds left, will start off on the inside of Sunday’s race grid from compatriot Maverick Vinales and French Yamaha racer Johann Zarco.
Andrea Iannone (Suzuki), Australian Jack Miller (Honda) and Pol Espargaro (KTM) will start off the second row of the grid.
Six-time race winner Valentino Rossi will join Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) and Briton Bradley Smith (KTM) on the third row.
Andrea Dovizioso, who beat Marquez in a thrilling final lap duel in Japan last weekend, struggled in qualifying and will start off the fourth row along with last year’s race winner Cal Crutchlow and Dani Pedrosa.
Rossi and Smith advanced to the second qualifying session by finishing in the top two positions in the first session, for riders whose practice times were outside the top ten.
Rossi posted a best 1:29.346 lap time on his Yamaha, 0.359 seconds ahead of Smith on a KTM.
Triple world MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo, who injured his ankle in a tumble during third free practice, was sixth on his Ducati to push him down to 16th on Sunday’s race grid.
Motorcycling: Marquez grabs pole for Australian MotoGP
Motorcycling: Marquez grabs pole for Australian MotoGP
Paolini races into round two to kickstart Australian Open
MELBOURNE: Jasmine Paolini powered into the Australian Open second round with a straight-sets demolition to kickstart the action in a hot and sunny Melbourne on Sunday.
The seventh-seeded Italian outclassed Belarusian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena.
Paolini faces Poland’s Magdalena Frech or Veronika Erjavec of Slovenia next.
“It was pretty good today, I did not expect that,” she said of her emphatic win in 69 minutes.
“Always tough to play first round. I played pretty good. I was solid, focused, so happy.
“Before the match I was a little nervous, to be honest, but then stepped on court and felt good from the first ball.”
The 30-year-old broke her opponent’s serve immediately and raced into a 3-0 lead in just 10 minutes.
She polished off the first set in 26 minutes and although Sasnovich put up more resistance in the second, Paolini ran out a comfortable winner.
Paolini reached the finals of Wimbledon and the French Open in 2024, but her best result at Melbourne Park is the fourth round in the same year.
