MotoGP leader Martin snares Phillip Island pole

Spain's Jorge Martin has taken pole position for the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix as he seeks to cement his advantage over title rival Francesco Bagnaia.

Martin, who sits 10 points clear of reigning champion Bagnaia with four race weekends left, set a lap time of one minute 27.296 seconds in qualifying at Phillip Island on Saturday.

The Pramac Ducati star was 0.594 seconds clear of MotoGP legend Marc Marquez, who was fastest in Friday's second practice session after the first was washed out.

Aprilia's Maverick Vinales also sits on the front row after qualifying third fastest, rounding out an all-Spanish top three.

Marco Bezzechi was fourth and Bagnaia fifth, more than one second behind Martin, who set the all-time circuit record during last year's qualifying.

Martin's time was only 0.050 seconds slower than his 2023 mark, but was still enough to claim pole in Australia for the third consecutive year.

Wild weather lashed Friday's practice sessions, causing the first session to be cancelled, but rain eased on Saturday to allow qualifying to go ahead as planned.

"For sure today was a tricky day with this wind," Martin said.

"It was drying quite fast so we didn't know what to expect from the track, but when I went out I saw it was completely dry, maybe some small damp patches, and also a lot of wind.

"I was able to improve quite a lot on that second run, and I'm really happy to make another pole position here. It's fantastic, three in a row."

Marquez was the most recent winner in Australia from pole back in 2017.

The six-time MotoGP champion was happy to land a spot on the front row and expects Martin to set the pace in the sprint and main races over the weekend.

"We are on the target, we are on the front row," Marquez said.

"Keep going and let's see ... we don't know what we can do in the race because we don't know the pace.

"But I believe that Martin will start good and he will be there on the top from the beginning."

Australian favourite Jack Miller qualified 16th - the worst qualifying result of his career at Phillip Island.

The famous Victorian circuit will host its first 13-lap sprint race on Saturday afternoon, after last year's planned sprint was cancelled because of bad weather.

Early on Saturday, wet conditions made racing difficult for Moto3 riders with Spainish duo Joel Esteban and Xabi Zurutuza among those who crashed in practice.