PHILLIP ISLAND (Australia), Oct 19: Briton Jeremy McWilliams set a pole lap record Saturday to record the fastest time in the final qualifying session for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

McWilliams, 38, who won the Dutch 250cc race last season, secured his first MotoGP pole for the year and only his second in the premier class in a time of one minute 31.919 to deliver former world champion and team owner Kenny Roberts Senior his first MotoGP pole with Proton.

Australia’s Yamaha rider Garry McCoy was four-tenths of a second behind McWilliams as Japan’s Nobuatsu Aoki, also powered by a Proton, and Dutch Honda rider Jurgen van den Goorbergh completed a front row of two-stroke bikes, with all four riders aged in their thirties.

McWilliams beomes the oldest rider to qualify fastest for a GP in the premier class since Australian Jack Findlay at the Isle of Man in 1974.—Reuters