MotoGP News: Weather forces Aussie race to Saturday

MotoGP is bringing forward the Australian Grand Prix to Saturday, with heavy wind expected to hit Phillip Island Sunday.

Ferocious weather predicted on Sunday has seen a revised schedule introduced and will have the full-distance Australian Grand Prix take place on Saturday with the Sprint Race moved to Sunday, scheduled to run should the weather be less than predicted. This will be the first Grand Prix to take place on Saturday since the Dutch TT in 2015.

This decision has been taken proactively in order to guarantee the best and safest possible show for all competitors and fans attending Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit this weekend.

The MotoGP Grand Prix race will now take place on Saturday the 21st of October at 15:10 local time (GMT +11).

The Tissot Sprint is now scheduled to begin at 14:00 on Sunday the 22nd of October, weather permitting.

Saturday will be the busiest day of all as per the new schedule, which was officially announced by Dorna in a press conference after Friday practice, with qualifying taking place early during the morning as originally planned before the main 27-lap race itself in the afternoon.

Friday Highlights

Less than a second split the top 17 as Friday in Phillip Island came to a close.

Brad Binder put KTM on top of the timesheets in second practice for this weekend’s MotoGP Australian Grand Prix, as championship leader Francesco Bagnaia consigned himself to a place in Q1.

The Australian Grand Prix started with near ideal conditions as calm, sunny skies remaining throughout the opening day of practice – a situation which is predicted to dramatically change in just a matter of hours. Conditions meant every team had plenty of track time and in turn saw the 22 premier class riders lapping within just 1.965 seconds of each other and the top ten all within a mere half a second.

Washed Up Marquez falls again

It was an ultimately frustrating day for Marc Marquez who fell twice at Turn 10, almost saving his crash in the afternoon as in 2019 and 2022. Unharmed in the falls, Marquez and his team will spend the evening working on improving the front end feel of the Repsol Honda Team RC213V. A best time of 1’28.790 saw the eight-time World Champion miss a spot in the top ten by three tenths and end the day down in 16th spot.

Friday Results

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Team	Time/Gap
1	BINDER Brad	33	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	1m27.943s
2	MILLER Jack	43	AUS	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	0.148
3	VINALES Maverick	12	SPA	Aprilia Racing	0.269
4	MARTIN Jorge	89	SPA	Pramac Racing	0.279
5	ESPARGARO Pol	44	SPA	Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing	0.420
6	BEZZECCHI Marco	72	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	0.425
7	DI GIANNANTONIO Fabio	49	ITA	Team Gresini Racing MotoGP	0.509
8	BASTIANINI Enea	23	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	0.510
9	ESPARGARO Aleix	41	SPA	Aprilia Racing	0.513
10	ZARCO Johann	5	FRA	Pramac Racing	0.513
11	BAGNAIA Francesco	1	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	0.699
12	RINS Alex	42	SPA	LCR Honda	0.701
13	FERNANDEZ Augusto	37	SPA	Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing	0.713
14	FERNANDEZ Raul	25	SPA	RNF MotoGP Team	0.716
15	MARQUEZ Alex	73	SPA	Team Gresini Racing MotoGP	0.718
16	MARQUEZ Marc	93	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	0.847
17	QUARTARARO Fabio	20	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	0.994
18	MIR Joan	36	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	1.064
19	MARINI Luca	10	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	1.221
20	OLIVEIRA Miguel	88	POR	RNF MotoGP Team	1.768
21	NAKAGAMI Takaaki	30	JPN	LCR Honda	1.807
22	MORBIDELLI Franco	21	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	1.965