HODGSON SAYS DALL’IGNA LOOKED ILL AS MARQUEZ DOMINATED PHILLIP ISLAND QUALIFYING

Marc Marquez turned a dramatic, rain-hit qualifying session at Phillip Island into a commanding pole position for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix, leaving MotoGP pundit Neil Hodgson struck by both the Spaniard’s speed and the apparent tension in Ducati boss Luigi Dall’Igna’s garage.

Rain arrived between Q1 and Q2, and Marquez’s session began with a crash. He lost the front of his Ducati GP26 while entering Turn 4, but quickly returned to the pits and switched to his spare bike. The fall did not appear to dent his confidence: on his first flying lap after the change, he went around two and a half tenths quicker than Johann Zarco’s earlier benchmark.

Watching the effort, Hodgson said on TNT Sports: “I’ve got to say, Gigi Dall’Igna looks ill.” He explained that the Ducati general manager would know how close a rider pushing so hard could be to “a big, big crash.”

Marquez and Zarco traded the advantage as qualifying progressed. With a minute left, Zarco seemed to have secured the top spot, but Marquez found another burst of pace on his final attempt. He claimed pole by 1.494 seconds, a margin that left Hodgson momentarily lost for words. The pundit’s response was simply: “How?”

The result was Marquez’s fourth pole of the 2026 season and his first since July’s German Grand Prix. He went on to take a double victory at the Sachsenring and will now look to repeat that success at Phillip Island as he pursues another world title. His pole came despite the early crash, while the scale of his final advantage underlined how decisively he had recovered once back on track.