A masterpiece from the Rimini rider, who leaves Alex and Pecco’s Ducatis behind on the “friendly circuit” of the Red Bull Ring. Behind Martin and Marini, Yamaha struggles
Surprise at the Red Bull Ring: Marco Bezzecchi takes pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix with a time of 1’28″060. An unexpected result considering Friday’s difficulties and the passage through Q1. The Aprilia rider is 16 thousandths ahead of Alex Marquez (Gresini). Good qualifying also for Francesco Bagnaia, who will start from third place. Marc Marquez was a negative surprise: the MotoGP World Championship leader ruined everything with a crash on his last attempt, just like he did in Brno a month ago. So the Ducati rider will have to start from fourth on the grid.
Enea Bastianini, who showed great improvement, finished a good fifth. The Tech3 KTM rider is followed by Fermin Aldeguer, who closes out the second row. Seventh was Pedro Acosta, who made a miraculous save on the penultimate corner. Eighth was Franco Morbidelli, ahead of Raul Fernandez and Joan Mir. Brad Binder struggled, finishing only eleventh. Johann Zarco ended his qualifying session in twelfth place, penalized by a crash during the first time attack.
promoted from Q1— The first phase of qualifying rewarded Bastianini and Bezzecchi, who clearly warmed up well given the final result. There were some notable eliminations, starting with Jorge Martin: the outgoing champion will start from fourteenth, preceded by Luca Marini (Honda). Fabio Di Giannantonio is fifteenth. At the moment, the Red Bull Ring is rejecting all Yamahas: the best rider for the Japanese manufacturer is Fabio Quartararo, sixteenth and not admitted to Q2 for the first time this season. The weekend is over for Maverick Vinales. The Spaniard, still suffering from his injured left shoulder, did not take to the track during qualifying. After a medical check-up, his withdrawal was made official.
MotoGP grid for Austria— This is how the Sprint and MotoGP races in Brno will line up
- Bezzecchi (Ita/Aprilia); A. Marquez (Spain/Gresini Ducati); Bagnaia (Italy/Ducati)
- M. Marquez (Spain/Ducati); Bastianini (Italy/Tech3 Ktm); Aldeguer (Spain/Gresini Ducati)
- Acosta (Spain/Ktm); Morbidelli (Italy/VR46 Ducati); R. Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia)
- Mir (Spain/Honda); Binder (Saf/Ktm); Zarco (France/Lcr Honda)
- Marini (Italy/Honda); Martin (Spain/Aprilia); Di Giannantonio (Italy/VR46 Ducati)
- Quartararo (France/Yamaha); Rins (Spain/Yamaha); Oliveira (Portugal/Pramac Yamaha)
- Ogura (Japan/Trackhouse Aprilia); Miller (Australia/Pramac Yamaha)
