Twelve days on from the blistering temperatures in Indonesia, Red Bull KTM Tech3 had another element to deal with in Australia: the wind. Friday’s conditions were sunny, with temperatures hitting 29 in the afternoon, but blustery, making the track’s twelve turns difficult to manage.

Practice on Friday afternoon was eventful. The session was red-flagged nine minutes in due to a collision between Alex Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi at Turn 3. Thankfully neither rider was injured. The session was stopped again soon after when a local wallaby crossed the track.

It was a tricky start to the weekend for Bastianini. Ending FP1 in 14th, the Italian was struggling with stability through the track’s numerous fast corners and changes of direction. He felt even worse early in Practice. But his team made just the right changes in two pit stops to set him up well for the final Time Attacks.

The first of those put ‘La Bestia’ in eleventh position. And he then climbed four places to seventh on his final run, finishing just 0.4s off Marco Bezzecchi’s fastest time to guarantee a Q2 spot on Saturday.

It was a challenging day for Viñales around one of his favourite tracks. The 31-year-old had a promising start by placing 15th in FP1. But he continued losing time in the fast changes of direction in Practice, which limited him to 19th. He hopes the rain forecast for Saturday could make the circuit less physically demanding.

Bastianini and Viñales will have one eye on the sky on Saturday morning to see whether FP2 at 10:10 AEDT (UTC+11) will be held in wet conditions, followed by Qualifying at 10:50 AEDT (UTC+11), which then sets the grid for the 13-lap Sprint at 15:00 AEDT (UTC+11). 

Enea Bastianini: “In the end we’re in the top ten. It was a bit unexpected because this morning we suffered. Then at the start of this afternoon I suffered even more! It was very difficult for me to ride and to manage the wind. I came back to the box two times to find a solution. But the team worked so well and we were ready to do a good lap in the Time Attack. After the first one, I saw I was P11 and thought, ‘Not again!’ But I did a good lap in the final run. It was important to find a good slipstream because here you can gain a lot like that. I can be satisfied with my Friday. It bodes well for tomorrow. But then again, we know tomorrow will be a different situation with the rain.”

Maverick Viñales: “I came into this weekend feeling good. I had a week to recover and felt strong at home, but Phillip Island is a very difficult circuit for me at the moment because of the fast changes of direction, and that’s where I’m losing the most. I remember being full gas here and now I’m closing the throttle, which is frustrating, but it is what it is and all I can do is keep trying. The bike is working quite well, so that’s positive. It looks like it might rain for the rest of the weekend, which could be a good thing for us – we’ll have to wait and see.”