Jesko Raffin starts the Moto2 race of the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday from seventh place on the grid. The Swiss gave NTS RW Racing GP the best result so far. Bo Bendsneyder missed QP2 by a whisker and starts from nineteenth place at Phillip Island. The race starts at 3.20 a.m. European (winter) time. The strong wind and a little rain made the Saturday difficult. Nevertheless, already in FP3 Raffin set the eighth time, again confirming direct placement for QP2. Bendsneyder came to the fifteenth time, which was just not enough for QP2. In QP1 the Dutchman quickly put down 1.34.970, which initially seemed enough for a place in the first four. However, he couldn’t improve that time and dropped to sixth place. With a grid penalty for Sam Lowes, due to a dangerous move on Raffin in FP2 on Friday, that meant Bendsneyder will start the race from nineteenth. A few drops of rain at the end of QP1 were a warning to the riders who took to the track in QP2. The session started dry. Raffin was immediately in good shape and secured a place on the third row with 1.34.243. With five minutes to go, however, it started to rain again and now more seriously, so that no one improved his time anymore.
Bo Bendsneyder: “The qualification didn’t go the way I wanted. I had a good time, but I ran into some traffic at the end of the lap. After that I ran into more traffic all the way around and that’s why I decided to drop back a bit to create more space. Just when I had a free track, it was wet in turn 1 and I could no longer run a fast lap. A pity, because a place in the first four and so moving on to QP2 would have been possible. I had a lot of trouble with the wind today, much more than yesterday. The expectation is that the wind will not be as strong tomorrow, so hopefully I can get back the good feeling of yesterday. I think it could be a good race anyway from nineteenth place.”
Results Q1 & Q2 combined:
| Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
| 1 | Jorge NAVARRO | Beta Tools Speed Up | 1’33.565 |
| 2 | Brad BINDER | Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1’33.886 |
| 3 | Luca MARINI | SKY Racing Team VR46 | 1’33.934 |
| 4 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | Beta Tools Speed Up | 1’33.936 |
| 5 | Jorge MARTIN | Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1’33.941 |
| 6 | Sam LOWES | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 1’34.041 |
| 7 | Alex MARQUEZ | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1’34.136 |
| 8 | Jesko RAFFIN | NTS RW Racing GP | 1’34.243 |
| 9 | Marco BEZZECCHI | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’34.250 |
| 10 | Iker LECUONA | monday.com American Racing | 1’34.257 |
| 11 | Thomas LUTHI | Dynavolt Intact GP | 1’34.293 |
| 12 | Tetsuta NAGASHIMA | ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team | 1’34.399 |
| 13 | Nicolo BULEGA | SKY Racing Team VR46 | 1’34.497 |
| 14 | Stefano MANZI | MV Agusta Temporary Forward | 1’34.663 |
| 15 | Remy GARDNER | ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team | 1’34.694 |
| 16 | Xavi VIERGE | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1’34.730 |
| 17 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | FLEXBOX HP 40 | 1’35.173 |
| 18 | Enea BASTIANINI | Italtrans Racing Team | 1’36.305 |
| 19 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | FLEXBOX HP 40 | 1’34.812 |
| 20 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | NTS RW Racing GP | 1’34.970 |
| 21 | Marcel SCHROTTER | Dynavolt Intact GP | 1’35.012 |
| 22 | Joe ROBERTS | monday.com American Racing | 1’35.072 |
| 23 | Andrea LOCATELLI | Italtrans Racing Team | 1’35.220 |
| 24 | Dominique AEGERTER | MV Agusta Temporary Forward | 1’35.388 |
| 25 | Jake DIXON | Gaviota Angel Nieto Team | 1’35.401 |
| 26 | Philipp OETTL | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1’36.003 |
| 27 | Mattia PASINI | Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 | 1’36.320 |
| 28 | Somkiat CHANTRA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 1’36.750 |
| 29 | Xavi CARDELUS | Gaviota Angel Nieto Team | 1’37.206 |
| 30 | Adam NORRODIN | Petronas Sprinta Racing | 1’37.376 |
| 31 | Lukas TULOVIC | Kiefer Racing | 1’37.533 |
| 32 | Dimas EKKY PRATAMA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 1’39.830 |
Source: motogp.com, rwracinggp.com
