Adrian Huertas continued the good work of his title-defending Aruba.it Racing Ducati team by securing pole position for the opening round of the 2024 WorldSSP Championship at Phillip Island despite a crash that landed him in the medical centre

The Spaniard - who takes over from runaway 2023 title-winner Nicolo Bulega on the Ducati Panigale V2 - was in fine form around the Australian venue, pumping in a quick lap record-breaking effort early on in the session amid dicey conditions that would have been enough for the top spot.

As it happens, he lowered his benchmark further to 1m 31.407secs after returning to the track late on following a brief spell of drizzle, but would soon be barrelling through the gravel trap at the final Turn 12 left-hander following a high-side.

With the fast flick from the Ducati leading to a heavy landing, a clearly winded Huertas was able to pull himself up off the gravel but has been taken to the medical centre for checks.

Ironically, his incident would put the brakes on any rival trying to defeat him with two minutes remaining due to yellow flags, not least when the return of rain as the circuit went green put a formal end to any potential gains.

As such - physical condition notwithstanding - Huertas will start Race 1 from pole position, though this weekend sees the introduction of new rules which will see the front three rows of the Race 2 grid decided by fastest laps from the first race.

The only rider to get close to Huertas' effort - which took half-a-second off Stefano Manzi's lap record from FP1 - was Yari Montella, the testing pace setter able to improve late on but come up a tenth short on his fellow Ducati rider's time.

Marcel Schroetter completes the front row on his factory MV Agusta F3 800 RR, ahead of Manzi, who couldn't quite match his FP1 session topping lap from earlier in the day.

Valentin Debise led fellow Frenchman Lucas Mahias to complete an all-Yamaha row two, while Bahattin Sofuoglu held onto seventh on the grid despite barrelling out of the session with 20mins remaining when he crashed out at Turn 9 just as the weather turned. The Turkish rider too required attention in the medical centre.

Federico Caricasulo made it three MVs inside the top ten in eighth, while Jorge Navarro was a strong ninth to give the new WRP-RT Motorsports by SKM team top Triumph status ahead of top factory representative Tom Booth-Amos in 11th. They sandwiched tenth place man Niki Tuuli on the EAB Racing Ducati.

Elsewhere, Can Once struggled to hook up a lap to end up as top Kawasaki but down in 12th, while Honda's baptism of fire with the new CBR600RR saw its best representative - Moto3 convert Kaito Toba - in 22nd.

Meanwhile, John McPhee - whose FP1 was ended early by technical issues - gets underway from 21st on the grid.

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