Martin takes pole as Miller’s legacy recognised in Phillip Island tribute

Spaniard Jorge Martin had never lapped the Phillip Island circuit on a MotoGP machine before this weekend, but has snared pole position for Sunday’s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old Ducati rider made light of his inexperience on one of the world’s most daunting tracks with a circuit record lap.

He took his seventh MotoGP pole position with a lap time of one minute and 27.767 seconds, breaking the record Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo set nine years ago by 0.122secs.

Jorge Martin in action during qualifying. Credit: Robert Cianflone, Getty Images

Martin, who was racing in the intermediate Moto2 class the last time the Australian Grand Prix was held in 2019, sliced his best lap time of the session by four-tenths of a second on his final tour of the 4.4-kilometre seaside circuit.

“He won’t be super happy today,” Martin laughed of his compatriot Lorenzo, who retired from MotoGP at the end of the 2019 season.

“Yesterday in practice I was a bit lost because this track is so fast – the first time here I had to take the measurements. Today I had a good pace, and I feel strong for the race also. For the time attack in qualifying, I felt competitive, but maybe not that much. This lap time, it feels amazing. I feel that I can fight until the end tomorrow.”

Martin, who took his sole MotoGP win in 31 previous starts in Austria last season, will bid on Sunday to become Ducati’s first victor at Phillip Island since Australian Casey Stoner, who won for the Italian manufacturer in 2010.

Six-time MotoGP world champion and three-time Australian race-winner Marc Marquez (Honda) was second, just 0.013secs adrift of Martin, while Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia struck an important blow in his world championship showdown with Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, the Italian qualifying on the front row in third place while Quartararo, the reigning world champion, could only manage fifth.

Australia’s Jack Miller qualified eighth on his Ducati and finished three-tenths of a second off top spot, the 27-year-old unable to replicate the pace that saw him finish second in the most recent race in Thailand two weeks ago, which came after a dominant win in Japan one week earlier.v

“We improved from yesterday [in practice], but it wasn’t exactly the qualifying I wanted,” Miller said, noting his career-best run of recent form has come from largely lowly grid positions.

“Third row of the grid seems to be my habit these last couple of weeks, but I still feel relatively good for tomorrow’s race. It’s a long race here and yes, I’m three-tenths [of a second] off, but there’s a lot of young guys who haven’t raced here and that’s to my advantage.

“I’ll feel the extra pressure racing at home, but I welcome that – it’s the good kind of pressure that you want. It hasn’t distracted me. We all know what we need to do over 27 laps when it really matters, not one lap in qualifying on Saturday.”

“We all know what we need to do over 27 laps when it really matters, not one lap in qualifying on Saturday.”

Jack Miller

Bagnaia led the field at the halfway stage of the 15-minute session, but Martin unleashed a final lap blitz that saw him take his first pole position since the Grand Prix of the Americas in Texas in April.

Marquez, who is in his third race back after an enforced absence to recover from his fourth right shoulder surgery in the past three seasons, latched onto early pace-setter Bagnaia and used the slipstream provided by the bullet-fast Ducati down Phillip Island’s start-finish straight to edge the Italian by one-tenth of a second as the chequered flag fell.

“The feeling is coming with the bike,” Marquez said.

“Step by step we are coming good, and the crucial point for me is that on the physical side I am feeling better.”

Quartararo, who leads Bagnaia by two points in the world championship with races remaining in Australia, Malaysia and Valencia, was 0.206secs behind Martin’s record-breaking lap, while the other rider within realistic touching distance of the series lead, Spanish veteran Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), finished one place ahead in fourth. Espargaro trails Quartararo by 20 points, with a maximum of 75 points available across the final three events of the year.

Miller, who has had turn four on the Phillip Island circuit named after him, came to his home grand prix on a run of four podiums in his past seven races, but has struggled to feature at the front of the field for much of the weekend, battling handling issues on the windswept coastal circuit.

The Townsville native, who finished a last-gasp third on the most recent visit of the series to Australian shores three years ago, remains in mathematical contention for the title, 40 points behind Quartararo in fifth place.

Last year’s Moto2 world champion Remy Gardner, son of 1987 500cc world champion Wayne Gardner, qualified 19th for his MotoGP debut at Phillip Island, while the other Australian on the world championship grid this weekend, 19-year-old Darwin rookie Joel Kelso, qualified 14th in the entry-level Moto3 class.

Miller’s legacy takes a turn in Phillip Island tribute

For once, Miller was lost for words. The Australian MotoGP rider had just been told that turn four of the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit would be forever known as Miller Corner, with an official ceremony set to take place at his home grand prix this weekend.

Forget speechless; this was a time where simply composing his thoughts was more difficult than anything he’ll do on track this weekend.

“Words can’t even describe it – it’s probably the nicest gesture I’ve ever had in my career,” the four-time MotoGP race-winner said.

Jack Miller at Phillip Island this week.Credit: Getty Images

“On my favourite track, at the corner where my family has always sat over my career … for it to be known as Miller Corner long after my career ends, and I’m an old bloke watching the races on TV, it’s more than I could ever have dreamed of.”

Turn four has been unofficially known as Miller Corner since the Australian burst onto the MotoGP scene in 2015, with hundreds of family and friends from his native Townsville and relatives from New Zealand making the turn their own, clad in merchandise bearing Miller’s signature orange colours and “Jackass” logo.

Miller becomes the fourth Australian rider to have a section of one of the world’s revered motorcycle circuits renamed in their honour. Phillip Island’s start-finish straight is known as Gardner Straight, after 1987 500cc world champion Wayne Gardner, while the fearsomely-fast first bend at the straight’s conclusion is Doohan Corner, honouring the feats of five-time 500cc world champion Mick Doohan.

Turn three at the circuit was renamed Stoner Corner, acknowledging the achievements of two-time MotoGP champion and six-time race winner Casey Stoner, in 2012.

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