Australian MotoGP qualifying postponed to Sunday by windy conditions

Qualifying for the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island has been rescheduled for Sunday morning due to strong winds following a red flag stoppage midway through FP4.

After FP3 was held in tricky conditions due to the winds blowing across the Australian circuit, the winds have increased during the day making conditions unsafe to continue for MotoGP.

While FP4 was able to start it was red flagged halfway through, with Miguel Oliveira suffering a high-speed crash at the first corner as he was blown off the track on his Red Bull KTM Tech3, with an emergency Safety Commission meeting called involving FIM and MotoGP chiefs plus all MotoGP riders.

MotoGP has duly confirmed today’s remaining track sessions – the rest of FP4 and both Q1 and Q2 of qualifying – have been cancelled due to weather conditions.

MotoGP officials will assess conditions tomorrow and have released a revised Sunday schedule (all local time):

Moto3 warm-up: 0850-0910, Moto2 warm-up: 0920-0940, MotoGP warm-up: 0950-1010

MotoGP Q1: 1020-1035, MotoGP Q2: 1045-1100

Moto3 race: 1200, Moto2 race: 1320, MotoGP race: 1500 

If qualifying cannot be be run tomorrow, grid positions will be decided by combined free practice times which would see Maverick Vinales on pole position. Australian MotoGP combined free practice times can be found here.

“We have taken a decision in the Safety Commission that right now it is not safe in the high winds, this was seen when Miguel Oliveira crashed with the wind pushing him off. We have decided we are going to have to stop today and try again tomorrow,” Avintia Ducati’s Karel Abraham confirmed after the meeting.

It marks the first time qualifying has been rescheduled in MotoGP since the 2017 Qatar round, when rain called off the session due to the glare given off under the floodlights at the Losail International Circuit and starting grid positions were determined by combined free practice results.