One week on from the first pole of his grand prix career, 125cc World Championship leader Mike di Meglio took the provisional top spot for the Australian Grand Prix on a wet Phillip Island track.
The Frenchman, renowned for his wet weather abilities, clocked a fastest time of 1min 48.319secs on his final lap of the day, reducing an already provisional pole-worthy marker by three-tenths of a second.
Di Meglio's time was seven-tenths of a second quicker than anything that his rivals could muster up, with DeGraaf Grand Prix rider Danny Webb his nearest rival. The provisional front row is separated by nearly two seconds, and features I.C. Teamīs Michael Ranseder and Motegi race winner Stefan Bradl.
A late crash stopped Esteve Rabat improving upon his fifth-place-earning marker, with the Repsol KTM rider taking a nasty fall. Also bailing out was ISPA KTM Aran's Lorenzo Zanetti, sixth in the session. The tentative front row also includes Stevie Bonsey and Nico Terol.
Title challengers Simone Corsi and Gabor Talmacsi placed thirteenth and seventeenth, respectively, whilst there were further falls for Marc Marquez, Sergio Gadea, Scott Redding, Bradley Smith, Pol Espargaro and home wildcards Jake Horne & Blake Leigh-Smith.
First qualifying - Phillip Island:
1. di Meglio (Derbi) 1min 48.319secs
2. Webb (Aprilia) +0.774secs
3. Ranseder (Aprilia) +1.218secs
4. Bradl (Aprilia) +1.913secs
5. Rabat (KTM) +2.055secs
6. Zanetti (KTM) +2.060secs
7. Bonsey (Aprilia) +2.101secs
8. Terol (Aprilia) +2.351secs
9. Cortese (Aprilia) +2.532secs
10. van den Berg (Aprilia) +2.574secs
16. Smith (Aprilia) +3.855secs
18. Redding (Aprilia) +4.509secs
