Pedro Acosta didn't allow an early tumble prevent him from taking a comfortable pole position for the Austrian Moto2 at Spielberg as he looks to build on his newly acquired championship lead.
The Spaniard had been hot favourite for pole position after dominating free practice, though the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider did put himself under pressure with a slip off at Turn 2 on his first flying lap.
Despite this, Acosta would return to circuit and blow his rivals out of the water with a best time of 1m 34.040secs, a full three tenths up on the opposition.
The chasing pack will be led by Ai Ogura, who - much like he was in practice - the closest rival to Acosta, albeit a fair distance behind in second.
>>> 2023 Moto2 World Championship standings <<<
Joining them on the front row will be Celestino Vietti, the Fantic Racing rider enjoying one of his strongest qualifying performances of the season to place in third.
Jake Dixon was once again the best of the Brits with a solid run to fourth, the GasGas Aspar rider eager to use this event to make up ground lost from his lap one crash last time out at Silverstone.
Somkiat Chantra made it two IDEMITSU Honda Asia bikes inside the top five with his run to fifth place, ahead of British Moto2 winner Fermin Alderguer, who rounds out the second row in sixth.
Having lost the lead of the points' table at Silverstone, Tony Arbolino faces another uphill task to reclaim it back from Acosta from seventh on the grid, the Italian starting ahead of Albert Arenas and Manuel Gonzalez on row three.
Aron Canes was one of a handful of riders to take a tumble during the session, leaving him tenth, while Alonso Lopez was another to come down to force him into 11th.
Sam Lowes too was another to fall, the Briton facing another difficult Sunday as he battles back from 14th on the grid, while Rory Skinner gets away from 24th on the American Racing Kalex.
Austrian Moto2, Spielberg | Qualifying Results
Friday | Conditions - Dry, Sunny
2023 Austrian Moto2 | Spielberg, Austria | Qualifying Results | Round 10 of 20 | |||||
Rider | Nat. | Team | Chassis | Lap Time | |
1 | Pedro Acosta | 🇪🇦 | Red Bull KTM Ajo | Kalex | 1m 34.040 |
2 | Ai Ogura | 🇯🇵 | IDEMITSU Honda Asia | Kalex | 1m 34.311 |
3 | Celestino Vietti | 🇮🇹 | Fantic Racing | Kalex | 1m 34.445 |
4 | Jake Dixon | 🇬🇧 | Autosolar GasGas Aspar | Kalex | 1m 34.532 |
5 | Somkiat Chantra | 🇹🇭 | IDEMITSU Honda Asia | Kalex | 1m 34.590 |
6 | Fermin Aldeguer | 🇪🇦 | SpeedUp Racing | Boscoscuro | 1m 34.639 |
7 | Tony Arbolino | 🇮🇹 | Elf Marc VDS Racing | Kalex | 1m 34.728 |
8 | Albert Arenas | 🇪🇦 | Red Bull KTM Ajo | Kalex | 1m 34.737 |
9 | Manuel Gonzalez | 🇪🇦 | Yamaha VR46 MasterCamp | Kalex | 1m 34.857 |
10 | Aron Canet | 🇪🇦 | Pons Wegow Los40 | Kalex | 1m 34.859 |
11 | Alonso Lopez | 🇪🇦 | SpeedUp Racing | Boscoscuro | 1m 35.045 |
12 | Filip Salac | 🇨🇿 | QJMOTOR Gresini | Kalex | 1m 35.048 |
13 | Zonta van den Goorbergh | 🇳🇱 | Fieten Olie Racing GP | Kalex | 1m 35.082 |
14 | Sam Lowes | 🇬🇧 | Elf Marc VDS Racing | Kalex | 1m 35.197 |
15 | Darryn Binder | 🇿🇦 | Husqvarna IntactGP | Kalex | 1m 35.209 |
16 | Sergio Garcia | 🇪🇦 | Pons Wegow Los40 | Kalex | 1m 35.311 |
17 | Dennis Foggia | 🇮🇹 | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex | 1m 35.605 |
18 | Lukas Tulovic | 🇩🇪 | Husqvarna IntactGP | Kalex | 1m 35.676 |
19 | Izan Guevara | 🇪🇦 | Autosolar GasGas Aspar | Kalex | 1m 35.222 |
20 | Bo Bendsneyder | 🇳🇱 | Pertamina SAG Team | Kalex | 1m 35.289 |
21 | Joe Roberts | 🇺🇸 | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex | 1m 35.304 |
22 | Borja Gomez | 🇪🇦 | Fantic Racing | Kalex | 1m 35.316 |
23 | Marcos Ramirez | 🇪🇦 | American Racing | Kalex | 1m 35.349 |
24 | Rory Skinner | 🇬🇧 | American Racing | Kalex | 1m 35.380 |
25 | Jeremy Alcoba | 🇪🇦 | QJMOTOR Gresini | Kalex | 1m 35.554 |
26 | Alberto Surra | 🇮🇹 | Forward Team | Forward | 1m 35.675 |
27 | Kohta Nozane | 🇯🇵 | Yamaha VR46 MasterCamp | Kalex | 1m 35.919 |
28 | Mattia Rato | 🇮🇹 | Pertamina SAG Team | Kalex | 1m 36.125 |
W | Barry Baltus | 🇧🇪 | Fieten Olie Racing GP | Kalex | |
W | Alex Escrig | 🇪🇦 | Forward Team | Forward |