The oldest record in the books

The record for the fastest race lap at the historic 4.4km Phillip Island circuit goes back to 2013, when Marc Marquez, a MotoGP™ rookie, set a time of 1m28.108s. In his first season at the highest level of the sport, the then 20-year-old was the fastest rider on the track and was looking for his seventh victory in his maiden season.

But as he built a lead, there was a slight wrinkle. Because of tyre wear on the newly resurfaced track, tyre supplier Bridgestone was not confident that its rear tyres would go the proposed 27-lap distance. So the race was shortened to 19 laps, and the riders were required to swap bikes after no more than 10 laps.

While setting that lap record, Marquez made a tactical error. He continued around the track at the end of lap 10 and headed for the pitlane after 11 laps. Once he returned to the track, he was promptly black-flagged and disqualified from the race.

But he kept his lap record, and it has not been bettered in a race in the 11 years since, despite MotoGP™ bikes making more power, growing wings and ride-height devices. By comparison, Marquez topped Friday's sole MotoGP™ practice session with a time of 1m27.770s on his bewinged Gresini Racing Ducati GP23.

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But while Marquez’s best race lap has remained, the qualifying lap record has continued to come down yearly. Last year, Jorge Martin took pole position with a record lap of 1m27.246s. If the weather cooperates, there is a big chance that on a newly-resurfaced track, both of those numbers should be erased from the record books.