Luca Marini shone on a gloomy day at the Australian GP, taking his best Qualifying and Sprint results of year while still hungry for more. Repsol Honda Team teammate Joan Mir plays it safe and targets Sunday comeback.
Luca Marini was a man on a mission as Saturday’s action began at Phillip Island, the Italian unphased by the drying conditions of the morning. Despite the track still wet in parts, the #10 was straight out on slicks for Q1 and put in his best performance of the year. Pushing until the very end, Marini would go top of Q1 as the flag came out but would ultimately finish the session in third – only 0.189s shy of a first Q2 appearance as a Honda rider.
With a steady start to the Sprint, Marini was able to master the conditions and fought for points until the very end. His fine form continued, and he earned his best Sprint result of the year with tenth place. A positive end to a potentially troublesome Saturday.
After a day on unlocked potential on Friday, Joan Mir was hopeful of delivering on that potential and challenging for the top ten on Saturday. Unfortunately, the change in conditions left Mir and his team with work to do to rediscover that same feeling with his Honda RC213V. Starting in 18th left Mir with ground to recover as he lined up for the Sprint. Greeted with the coldest conditions of the weekend, Mir focused his attentions on gathering data and preparing for Sunday’s main event. He finished the day in 13th.
The Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix is scheduled to start at 14:00 Local Time and run over the course of 27 laps.