2019 Phillip Island Moto2 Qualifying Result: Racing Against Rain

The sky in Phillip Island kept the paddock on its toes, spitting short showers at random times, not enough to soak the track but just enough to put question marks in riders and team’s heads. The apparent sun also told lies, given the low temperatures and strong wind that affected performance. The battle for pole started dry and ended up being decided by yet another shower in the final five minutes, Poseidon handing pole position to Jorge Navarro. The Speed Up rider heads the grid for the third time this season after being three tenths of a second faster than Brad Binder. After a challenging few days for Luca Marini including a stint through Q1, the youngster found the remedy for pain on the front row of the grid.

Fabio Di Giannantonio got tired of Jorge Martin stealing his rookie spotlight and qualified fourth, although only one place ahead of the Spaniard. Sam Lowes led the way in Q1 and placed sixth in Q2, but the Gresini rider has a back of the grid penalty to serve after his FP2 hot-headedness, which allows Alex Marquez onto the second row of the grid. With most of his title rivals crowding the front row, the Spaniard will need to engage in some serious battles to secure the title in Australia. However, the other title hopeful has even more of a challenge to keep his hopes alive, Augusto Fernandez having a dismal session ended in 17th position.

Jesko Raffin impressed in opening row three, ahead of Marco Bezzecchi and Iker Lecuona, while Tom Luthi starts one row back – theoretically in the company of Tetsuta Nagashima and Nicolo Bulega but with the Japanese rider carrying a 3-place grid penalty from his home race, that promotes Stefani Manzi to row four. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Baldassarri and Marcel Schrotter were the big losers in Q1, although a lot of the attention went to Dominique Aegerter, whose save out of Siberia puts Alex Marquez’s recent efforts to shame.

Results: