2018 Michelin Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix - Part 1
Words: Mike Ryan
Photos: Russell Colvin and Michelin
With the MotoGP title already decided before the GP circus came to Australia, you could be forgiven for thinking the Australian round of this year’s championship would be anticlimactic. Nothing was further from the truth, with drama and a near disaster in the premier class, as well as a number of individual battles and a drought-breaking win.
The MotoGP action was reflected in the Moto2 and Moto3 categories, both of which were still alive coming to Phillip Island. The Moto2 title was close, but Moto3 was much tighter, with a single point separating the top two riders.
Beyond the racing attractions, a number of new spectator initiatives this year, like grandstand modifications, more paddock access and new pre-fabricated tents for campers, may have helped draw extra spectators. Regardless of what brought them here, the spectators did come – 86,250 of them, in fact, which was the best 3-day total for the Australian round since Casey Stoner’s last year of competition in 2012.
Aussies – Call Ups and Shout Outs
In the fortnight leading up to the Australian round, it looked like there’d be a dearth of local talent to cheer on, with only Jack Miller in MotoGP and Remy Gardner in Moto2. The usual wildcard entries in Moto3 didn’t materialise this year, but on the eve of the event, Mike Jones was given an opportunity in MotoGP with Angel Nieto Ducati, on the bike normally campaigned by Alvaro Bautista. Bautista had stepped up to the factory Ducati Team’s GP18 for this round, replacing the injured Jorge Lorenzo. This would be the Queenslander’s third such start, having ridden at the Japanese and Australian GPs in 2016.
A very late call-up saw Bryan Staring join Gardner in Moto2, with the former Australian Supersport and Superbike champion filling in for the injured Bo Bendsneyder of Tech 3 Racing. While this would be Staring’s first Moto2 ride, he’s no stranger to the GP paddock, having spent a season in MotoGP with FTR Honda back in 2013.
Off track, Aussie racing talent of a different sort at the Island included supercar drivers (and 2018 Bathurst 1000 winners) Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards, as well as Shane van Gisbergen, Scott Pye, Jack Perkins and former racers Larry Perkins and Brad Jones.
Other special guests in the paddock included Lleyton Hewitt, AFL players Matthew Kreuzer and Jarman Impey, DJ and racing fan Carl Cox and Australian Olympic gold medallist Sally Pearson.
Friday and Saturday – Spills and Surprises in Practice and Qualifying
The usual mixed bag of weather at Phillip Island saw patches of rain and high winds but mercifully, the worst of this arrived in the Friday and Saturday practice and qualifying sessions, with fine conditions for race day.
Moto3 were the first on track on Friday and, in cool conditions, championship leader Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3 Honda) was the pacesetter in Free Practice 1, extending that form into the following two practice sessions, where he was joined by team mate Fabio Di Giannantonio and Darryn Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), the latter arriving at the Island with some confidence after scoring his first podium in the previous round at Motegi.
Martin made a name for himself last season with a string of pole positions that he couldn’t convert into wins, but this year, the 20-year-old Spaniard has been a victory machine, with six race wins coming into the Aussie round. In the final qualifying session, Martin saluted with a 1’36.591 lap that put him on pole again, with Binder and Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas Sprinta Racing Honda) completing the front row.
Martin’s championship rival, Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PruestelGP KTM) had won at Motegi, but started poorly at Phillip Island and went downhill from there, qualifying well back in fifteenth place.
In Moto2, Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46 Kalex) arrived with a 37-point championship lead and one hand on trophy, but the Italian has a poor record at the Island, qualifying a lowly seventeenth last year and finishing the race in twelfth.
This year, Bagnaia started well in FP1 and FP2, but went backwards after that, while Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) were at the pointy end of Free Practice. These two would also figure in qualifying, but pole went to the veteran Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team Kalex) with a 1’33.368 lap. Schrotter was second quickest, with Xavi Vierge (Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex) completing the front row. Bagnaia had another shocker, qualifying sixteenth.
Aussies Remy Gardner and Bryan Staring had mixed results in Free Practice and qualifying, with Staring understandably taking a ginger approach, despite the 600cc Honda engines in the Moto2 bikes having far less power than what he’s used to in Aussie Superbike competition.
A crash for Gardner in FP1 compromised his attack for the following sessions, but he nevertheless recovered to be twelfth fastest in FP3 and would qualify in fifteenth alongside Moto2 rookie (and last year’s Moto3 champion) Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex). After crashing in FP2, Staring qualified in 27th place.
The Free Practice sessions for MotoGP were a true mixed bag, with Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) quickest in FP1 before Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) set a blazing 1’29.131 lap in FP2 that would have put him on pole. In the same session, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol)’s weekend came to an abrupt end when a high-speed crash at turn 1 left him with a fractured right ankle. Newly-crowned MotoGP champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) found his wheels in FP3, before Iannone repeated the dose in FP4.
When it came to final qualifying on Saturday, Marquez showed his class to take pole with a 1’29.199 lap. Vinales was second quickest, while Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) came out of nowhere after loitering at the tail end of the top ten for the Free Practice sessions to take the final spot on the front row of the grid.
Iannone was on the second row, alongside Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing Ducati), who impressed the fans when he gave Rins a lift back to the pits after the Spaniard crashed in FP2. Fan favourite Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) qualified seventh, replicating his starting position from last year’s Australian GP.
Jones outpaced Scott Redding (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) on a number of occasions in Free Practice, but was concentrating on keeping the Angel Nieto Ducati crash-free, so qualified in the final spot on the grid.
With the field set, it was time to go racing…
