Qualifying for the premier-class race at the Australian Moto GP was postponed until Sunday after weather conditions were deemed too unsafe to ride in.
Strong winds and rain buffeted Phillip Island on Saturday and FP4 was brought to a premature end after Red Bull KTM's Miguel Oliveira was blown off the track heading into Turn 1. Oliveira thankfully walked away from his heavy crash and suffered no broken bones.
Conditions were deemed unsafe at a subsequent safety commission meeting involving the riders, with qualifying now set to take place prior to the race on Sunday.
'Difficult to control the bike'
Race direction representative Loris Capirossi said: "In the meeting we [wanted] to understand the opinion of the rider. And almost all agreed the conditions are not safe enough because the wind is really strong, especially because the wind is not constant — at some points it's really strong, at some points it's less and it's really difficult to control the bike.
"We hope the conditions are better for tomorrow [Sunday]."
The Australian GP is set to start at midday local time on Sunday. Grid positions will be determined by combined free practice times should qualifying be completely cancelled.
Maverick Vinales had recorded the fastest time in the third free practice session to top the provisional standings.
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