MotoGP points leader Fabio Quartararo squeaked into this afternoon’s qualifying two session by the skin of his teeth, taking tenth place on the combined Red Bull Ring timesheets after free practice three.
The Petronas man was one of three Yamahas to make it into the final timed session which was headed by Pol Espargaro on the KTM with Andrea Dovizioso second and Maverick Vinales third.
Overnight rain in Spielberg saw the Red Bull Ring get a substantial sprinkling of rain, with the Moto3 riders experiencing a full wet Saturday morning session.
In the opening 15 minutes, Miguel Oliveria (Red Bull KTM Tech3) led the way with a 1:32.460 – eight seconds off the fastest dry time – from Viñales and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar). With 25 minutes remaining, there was a dry line around most of the circuit, could we see slick tyres emerging and combined practice times improving?
Viñales then started the onslaught. The Yamaha star went P7 from P11 on the combined times and then shot into P3 on his next lap, the grip was there in the Austrian sun as Quartararo found himself 11th and outside the top 10 with two minutes to go in FP3. Miller was on the fringes of the top 10 but the Australian, a master in mixed conditions, climbed to P4 as Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Oliveira improved their times to cement top 10 positions.
Together on track, Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) and Quartararo were fighting for a top 10 place in the closing stages. Quartararo was 11th and needed a personal best final lap to grab an automatic Q2 place, Petrucci also needed a lap. The Championship leader did manage to find time – but he only just made it. 0.044 was his advantage over Zarco, the Frenchman pushing his compatriot out right at the death to squeeze into Q2 by the skin of his teeth.
So after the wild end to FP3, Pol Espargaro leads the MotoGP field into qualifying this afternoon, with Dovizioso and Viñales his closest challengers. Miller heads fifth place Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) as the duo sit less than two tenths adrift in P4 and P5 respectively, Nakagami’s FP1 time enough to see the Japanese rider stay comfortably in the top 10.
Rins improved in FP3 to sit P6, Oliveira and Mir also went quicker to claim an automatic Q2 place. Then come the two Petronas Yamaha SRT machines – Franco Morbidelli and Quartararo finding themselves in P9 and P10 at the end of Free Practice in Austria.
Czech GP winner Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) will fight it out in Q1 after finishing P16 on the combined times, with big-name riders such as Zarco, Petrucci, Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), LCR Honda Castrol’s Cal Crutchlow and more having to fight in Q1.
Bradley Smith (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) was the first man to head out on slick tyres with 23 minutes to go, Alex Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) soon followed suit. The reigning Moto2 World Champion slotted himself into P3 in FP3, before going quickest in the session and with 15 minutes to go, there was an outside chance that we would be seeing movement in the top 10.
That outside chance started to become a real chance by the minute. Dovizioso was consistently lapping quicker and in five minutes, the Italian went from being three seconds off to only a tenth off Fabio Quartararo’s (Petronas Yamaha SRT) P10 time in FP1.
