Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin repeated his record-breaking run at the Red Bull Ring with a second masterful MotoGP pole position in Austria.
Bettering an equally impressive effort from the Monster Energy Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo, the rookie overcame an FP4 fall and a Q1 battle to head the grid for the AustrianGP with a 1’22.643. Pecco Bagnaia joined the Ducati celebrations in third.
Qualifying began with Alex Rins, Miguel Oliveira and Jorge Martin joining the Q1 fight, Enea Bastianini having just put in a sensational showing during FP4 to finish the race-run session an impressive second.
As the hot laps began to register, last Sunday’s victor set the pace with a 1’23.556. Alex Marquez circulating six-tenths adrift in second with Valentino Rossi a further three behind in third. The trailing pair both improved with their next laps, the Yamaha legend now just 0.054s off promotion after the opening five minutes.
Rins was the next to strike as the session unfolded. His second place time immediately being beaten by the hard-charging Bastianini as the confident Italian dispatched a 1’23.790. Martin improved the target once again with a ’23.3 as Rins struck back once again - 0.009s now separating the fight for second.
At the mid-session lull, Oliveira sat fourth from Marquez and Rossi with younger brother Luca Marini behind in seventh. Iker Lecuona, Danilo Petrucci and Cal Crutchlow completing the standings with five minutes left to run.
The final push saw Rossi follow Martin for a late-session reference but to no avail. Martin, Rins, Oliveira and Marquez all improving the pace in the top-four with their seventh laps before repeating the efforts next time around. Oliveira leapfrogged Rins for second on his penultimate effort, with further challenges fading as the flag came out.
The Pramac/KTM pair advanced with Rins forced to settle for 13th. The Suzuki rider lining up on row five, with Marquez and Bastianini for company, in tomorrow’s race. Lecuona finished sixth ahead of Marini and Rossi with Petrucci and Crutchlow completing the grid.
The shootout fired up with Martin in provisional pole and Johann Zarco behind in second before Fabio Quartararo decimated the Pramac hopes. The Frenchman crossing the line with a monster 1’22.677 for a new all-time record, with just his third lap of the session.
Marc Marquez sat fourth from Aleix Espargaro and Jack Miller with Brad Binder, Joan Mir and Pol Espargaro running top-nine at the halfway stage. Takaaki Nakagami and Miguel Oliveira were running 10th and 11th with Pecco Bagnaia so far yet to set a time as the clock hit five to go.
The Italian’s first effort was enough for third as he finally wound his Desmosedici up, Mir finding fourth as a pole-worthy challenge looked to slip through his fingers. There was further fire from Ducati in the dying seconds as Miller climbed to fifth, Marquez claiming fourth as Martin once again arrived in style. A 1’22.643 gifted the rookie another pole with another record as he prepared to head the Austrian grid for the second week in succession.
A late charge from Zarco saw the Pramac secure fourth as the Ducati’s maintained their dominance of the Spielberg top-six. Quartararo once again spoiling the party on the front row, in second, with Marquez splitting row two, from fifth. Mir settled for a frustrated seventh ahead of the Aprilia of Espargaro and a pair of KTM’s while the younger Espargaro and Nakagami completed the top-12.
