After a weekend of challenging weather, the guest list in Q1 at Phillip Island had a lot of big names, including Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Movistar Yamaha teammates Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo – and after a tough session to call on tyres, it was Crutchlow and Lorenzo who graduated to Q2. Rossi, who did his last run in Q1 on intermediate tyres, could only manage fifth in the tricky conditions of the session – translating into a P15 starting position for the most successful rider on the grid at Phillip Island; his worst qualifying since 2011.
Valentino Rossi (P15): “It was a very strange day when it comes to the conditions, because they changed continuously and unfortunately we were never strong starting from this morning. We are a little bit worried because, though we know in these conditions it is difficult for everybody, I never felt the right feeling on the wet and the dry. Yesterday morning we started quite well, but today we had some problems so we start towards the back of the grid. We hope for better conditions because it looks like with our bike we suffer a bit. It depends very much on the pace what happens tomorrow, it looks like when it is very cold we struggle to get the tyres up to temperature and the bike becomes very difficult to ride. Starting from fifteenth is a problem for sure, if you want to try to win it is quite impossible, but if you are fast you can do a good race. So this is what we have to try.”