Jorge Martin was probably prophetic yesterday when he predicted a duel between himself and Pecco Bagnaia for dominance at the Red Bull Ring, because qualifying for the Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix confirmed that the two main title contenders currently appear to be one step ahead of the competition.
Not even a domestic inconvenience could stop the “Martinator” from going wild. The Prima Pramac Racing rider slipped in the shower and suffered a small wound to the thumb of his left hand, which required two stitches. The rider from Madrid, however, did not seem to have noticed if we consider that he signed the pole position in 1’27″748, a stratospheric time, falling eight tenths below that of 2023.
As mentioned, the only one who managed to at least try to compete was the reigning world champion. In fact, in the first attempt it was Bagnaia who took provisional pole. After a lap cancelled due to track limits, in the second attempt however he was unable to respond to the Spaniard, although he also placed a sensational 1’27″889 before being left stranded by his Ducati, which ran out of fuel.
Completing the front row is Marc Marquez, but it really seems like he’s starting a MotoGP B: on a short track like the Austrian one, the eight-time world champion saw himself handed a whopping 544 thousandths of a second off Martin’s time, so at the moment it seems difficult to think that the Gresini Racing rider could squeeze in between the two title contenders.
A bravo instead goes to Aleix Espargaro, because he and Aprilia have never liked the ups and downs of Spielberg, but this morning the rider from Granollers managed to climb up to fourth position, missing the first row by just fifty thousandths. Very good job also for Jack Miller who, after passing from Q1, took the palm of best KTM by placing fifth.
The good qualifying of the Aprilias is completed by the sixth time of Maverick Vinales, who therefore also takes the second RS-GP to the second row, while that of Enea Bastianini was a little below expectations, as in Austria he was unable to return to the great level that had allowed him to do a double at Silverstone and therefore will have to settle for seventh place.
After the great Friday yesterday, a little more was expected from Franco Morbidelli, who instead did not go beyond eighth place. Unfortunately, the Prima Pramac Racing rider had a big scare while braking at turn 9, which ruined his best lap. Completing an all-Ducati third row is Marco Bezzecchi’s GP23.
The fourth row opens with Pol Espargaro, who also passed through Q1 with the KTM that wears all the latest evolutions. The wild card of the Austrian manufacturer could perhaps have done even a little more if he had not run into a slide at turn 3. Behind him are the Ducati of Alex Marquez and Brad Binder, author of a bad qualifying after being the only KTM rider to make it directly to Q2 yesterday.
Really very unlucky Miguel Oliveira, who found himself excluded from Q2 by doing the same time to the thousandth of a second as Pol Espargaro, who however mocked him by getting it first. If we consider that his 1’28″635 could have been worth the second row, the Aprilia Trackhouse rider must really be kicking himself to find himself only 13th on the grid.
It certainly can’t be said that it was Pedro Acosta’s day either. After three crashes on Friday, the GasGas Tech3 rider failed to make the cut by just a handful of thousandths just like yesterday, 24 to be precise. For him, 14th place is his worst qualifying result since he arrived in MotoGP. It’s a shame that it happened in KTM’s home race.
Rounding out the fifth row will be Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha. Once again, all the Japanese brands were excluded from Q2, even though “El Diablo” was never really in the running, as confirmed by the gap of over four tenths from the time needed to qualify.
16th place for the other GasGas Tech3 of Augusto Fernandez, who slipped ahead of the Honda army, once again led by the Frenchman Johann Zarco, who left behind Luca Marini and Joan Mir, who will therefore be on the seventh row. Apparently, the progress made with the new engine specification of the RC213V has not been as great as the standard-bearers of the Japanese brand would have hoped.
You have to go down to 21st place to find the returning Alex Rins, who after missing the Silverstone race due to pain in his operated hand struggled to keep up with the twin Yamaha, finishing behind the other Aprilia Trackhouse of Raul Fernandez. The Aprilia wild card Lorenzo Savadori instead closes the grid in 24th position with the RS-GP “laboratory”, behind the two Hondas of Takaaki Nakagami and tester Stefan Bradl.
Unfortunately, we must remember the absence from the track of Fabio Di Giannantonio: the Pertamina Enduro VR46 rider fell at high speed at turn 8 in yesterday’s afternoon session, suffering a dislocation of his left shoulder which forced him to raise the white flag early.
Q2 Ranking
Q1 Ranking
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