Afternoon practice at Phillip Island took place under cloudy weather conditions. This session was characterized by riders fine-tuning their bikes for the first half, before switching to attack mode in order to secure a spot in the top 10, as the fastest 10 riders earn direct entry into Q2 tomorrow.

After the riders completed their first measured laps, times ranged between 1:29s and 1:33s. Bagnaia, who began his first timed lap, did not finish it and went straight back to the garage. He appeared clearly unhappy, suggesting that the problems from the morning session were still continuing.

Five minutes into the session, riders were already lapping in the 1:28s, getting very close to breaking into the 1:27s. The early top 10 looked like this: Acosta, Zarco, Bezzecchi, Di Giannantonio, and Binder.

In terms of tyre configuration, everyone used a soft rear tyre, with most riders choosing either a medium or hard front. Marco Bezzecchi was the first rider to dip into the 1:27s, taking the lead from Acosta. The times were very close, with everyone in the top 10, except Bezzecchi, in the 1:28s range.

As the riders kept improving, most of those in the top 10 were now in the 1:27s. However, Bezzecchi remained in the lead. After 13 minutes, Bagnaia was still without a recorded time, while Yamaha was performing well with Quartararo, Miller, and Rins all inside the top 10.

Bezzecchi was seen practicing the long lap penalty, preparing for Sunday’s race. Meanwhile, Bagnaia jumped to 5th place; he was among the few riders using a hard front tyre.

Despite a strong start to his next attempt, Bagnaia continued to lose time in the fourth sector, preventing further improvement.

With 20 minutes gone, the top 10 were: Bezzecchi, Acosta, Di Giannantonio, Quartararo, Bagnaia, Zarco, Miller, Alex Marquez, Binder, and Marini.

At the 25-minute mark, the first yellow flag of the session was shown after Pedro Acosta crashed at Turn 4. Fortunately, he was able to rejoin quickly. At that point, Fabio Di Giannantonio was leading the session, while most riders were in the pits.

As the session reached its halfway point, several riders who had started good laps lost time in later sectors, throwing away their attempts. The top 10 then were: Di Giannantonio, Bezzecchi, Rins, Acosta, Alex Marquez, Quartararo, Bagnaia, Fernandez, Zarco, and Miller.

While many riders remained in the pits, those who stayed out tried to improve their times on a clearer track. Jack Miller continued his strong form, improving to 2nd place, as others gradually returned to the circuit.

In the final part of the session, when riders typically push for the top 10, almost everyone opted for a soft rear and medium front tyre, except a few who stayed with the hard front.

With 8 minutes remaining, the top 10 stood as follows: Bezzecchi, Quartararo, Alex Marquez, Rins, Fernandez, Acosta, Aldeguer, Miller, Di Giannantonio, and Marini.

With only a few minutes left, Michele Pirro crashed out. Soon after, Fabio Di Giannantonio improved his lap and moved up to 2nd place. During the final attempts, Bagnaia improved to 8th, while Pol Espargaró jumped into the top 10. Bagnaia then made a mistake and had to slow down, which meant he likely couldn’t start another flying lap.

As the checkered flag came out, riders completed their final laps. Marini jumped to 7th, while Bezzecchi further improved his time to confirm first place. Raul Fernandez set a strong final lap to take 2nd, continuing his impressive form. Fermin Aldeguer, who was attempting to improve, just missed out and was left outside the top 10.