MotoGP Phillip Island race: Sunday guide

MotoGP™

• Marc Marquez starts from pole for the fourth successive year in Australia. From his previous three MotoGP poles at Phillip Island he has had one win in 2015 and he has crashed out twice when leading the race.
• In second place on the grid is Maverick Viñales, who finished third in Australia last year from 13th place on the grid. This is the first time Vinales has qualified on the front row in Phillip Island.
• Johann Zarco starts from the front row for the fourth time in his rookie season, and his third position equals his best dry weather qualifying result that he had at the French Grand Prix. Phillip Island is one of just two current tracks where Zarco did not have a podium finish in the Moto2 class. The other one is Qatar.
• Heading the second row is Andrea Iannone, which is his best qualifying result since the opening race of the year in Qatar when he qualified in second place on the grid. Iannone finished third on his last appearance in Phillip Island in 2015, having missed last season through injury.
• Jack Miller is in fifth place on the grid, which equals his best ever grid position in the MotoGP class that he achieved last year at this circuit.
• Pol Espargaro takes the final place on the second row, which is the best qualifying result so far for KTM in their first year in the MotoGP class. Espargaro has twice won at Phillip Island in the Moto2 class and finished fifth here last year, which was his equal best dry weather result of 2016.
• Starting from the head of the third row is Valentino Rossi, who has finished on the podium in the premier-class at Phillip Island on 14 occasions, Six of those top three finishes have been achieved after qualifying outside of the top six places on the grid.
• Aleix Espargaro is in eighth place on the grid, which is the fifth successive race he has qualified on one of the front three rows.
• Bradley Smith starts from ninth place on the grid, which makes it two KTM riders on the front three rows. This is the best dry weather qualifying result for Smith since he was eighth on the grid in Mugello last year.
• Cal Crutchlow, who won the race in Phillip Island last year, has qualified in tenth place on the grid.
• Andrea Dovizioso is the highest placed Ducati rider on the grid in 11th place, which is his worst qualifying since Jerez when he was in 14th place on the grid.
• This is the first time since the Australian Grand Prix in 2006 that no Ducati rider has qualified in the top 10 places on the grid.

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