The Italian posted a stunning 1:26.492 on his Aprilia, smashing Jorge Martin’s previous best.
AUSTRALIA:
Marco Bezzecchi broke the Australian MotoGP lap record by setting the standard during the second practice session on Friday, becoming the first rider to drop under 1:27 at Phillip Island.
The Italian, who won the Indonesian sprint race a fortnight ago before pouncing on world champion Marc Marquez during the grand prix, lapped the quay in 1:26.580 on his Aprilia.
His time smashed the previous best of 1:27.246 set by Jorge Martin in 2023. Not content with that, he then bettered it with a 1:26.492.
It left Bezzecchi 0.291 seconds clear of Raul Fernandez, also on an Aprilia, with Ducati-VR4 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio third and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo fourth.
“An incredible lap, he broke the record twice, which means he has confidence in the bike,” Aprilia team principal Paolo Bonora said of Bezzecchi.
“To be honest, our bike was good last year, but we didn’t get many results.”
Ducati-Gresini’s Alex Marquez came fifth, 0.453 seconds adrift, as he looks to seal second place in the world championship behind brother Marc.
Spain’s Marquez has an 88-point lead over two-time world champion Francesco Bagnaia in the battle for second place in the standings with four rounds remaining in the 22-stop season.
He can do so by finishing the weekend 111 points clear of his Italian rival Ducati, who failed to score a point in Indonesia just a week after winning the Japanese MotoGP and sprint races.
Bagnaia complained about his bike shaking in Friday’s opening session and again struggled early for pace. But he switched to the backup and drove it to ninth place.
The top 10 times from the second practice automatically qualified for Q2 on Saturday and will join the two fastest riders from Q1 to determine the top five grid rows for both the sprint race and Sunday’s main race.
Among those relegated to Q1 were Fermin Aldeguer, who won in Indonesia, and home hero Jack Miller, who topped the opening practice session.
Marc Marquez, last year’s Phillip Island winner, is out in Australia after undergoing shoulder surgery after being pitted by Bezzecchi in Indonesia.
Bezzecchi must serve a double long-lap penalty on Sunday for causing the incident, but is free to compete as usual in Saturday’s sprint event.
He was quick all afternoon, setting the fastest lap of 1:27.516 for almost 15 minutes before Di Giannantonio went a fraction faster.
Teams tested various tire strategies in an attempt to collect data in the event of bad weather, and Bezzecchi on hard front and soft rear stunned the field with the new lap record.
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