Qualifying report
MotoGP Austrian GP
Red Bull Ring MotoGP: Bastianini leads Ducati 1-2-3-4 in qualifying
Gresini’s Enea Bastianini snatched a maiden MotoGP pole for the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of Francesco Bagnaia, as main title rivals Fabio Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro were fifth and ninth.
Lewis Duncan
Edited: Aug 22, 2022, 10:08 AM
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Already a three-time winner in MotoGP this year, Bastianini finally added a pole position in the premier class to his credit after beating Bagnaia by 0.024 seconds at the death of a tight qualifying.
Having come through Q1, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro set the early pace with a 1m29.255s, before Jack Miller on the factory team Ducati edged ahead with a 1m29.164s.
The pair traded top spot on their second laps, Espargaro improving to a 1m29.032s before Miller fired in a 1m28.898s.
Espargaro would find himself shuffled back to fifth after the first run, and could do no better than ninth after his 1m29.032s was cancelled for exceeding track limits.
With just over three minutes of the 15-minute Q2 session left, Bagnaia mounted a challenge on Miller’s lap with a 1m28.999s before toppling his teammate’s time with a 1m28.796s.
This looked like it would secure pole for the in-form Italian, but compatriot Bastianini snatched pole on his final lap of 1m28.772s aboard his year-old Gresini-run Ducati.
Miller completed the top three with Pramac’s Jorge Martin fourth, with the first non-Ducati rider Quartararo on the factory Yamaha in fifth – the championship leader just 0.231s from pole.
He is sandwiched between both Pramac Ducatis, with Johann Zarco sixth ahead of Maverick Vinales on the second Aprilia.
Joan Mir was eighth on the Suzuki ahead of Aleix Espargaro, with Fabio Di Giannantonio on the second Gresini GP21 coming from Q1 to qualify 10th.
Alex Rins was 11th on the second of the Suzukis, with Brad Binder only able to go 12th on his KTM.
VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini was denied a place in Q2 by just 0.036s and will line up 13th, while a crash for his teammate Marco Bezzecchi late on in Q1 at the new chicane left him down in 20th.
LCR Honda rider Alex Marquez crashed in identical fashion to Bezzecchi as he was tracking the Italian and paid dearly, the Spaniard starting last as no HRC runner was able to progress into the poles shootout session.
The top Honda was Takaaki Nakagami on the sister LCR bike in 14th ahead of factory team rider Pol Espargaro, with Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli making a late improvement to 16th.
Miguel Oliveira was a disappointing 17th on KTM’s home turf ahead of Honda’s Stefan Bradl and RNF Racing’s Andrea Dovizioso in his penultimate qualifying session in MotoGP.
Behind Bezzecchi came Darryn Binder on the sister RNF bike from Tech 3 KTM duo Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez, with Aprilia wildcard Lorenzo Savadori lining up ahead of Alex Marquez.
The 2022 MotoGP Austrian GP will get underway at 2pm local time on Sunday.
MotoGP Austrian GP - Q2 results:
Cla Rider Bike Time Gap 1 Enea Bastianini
Ducati 1'28.772 2 Francesco Bagnaia
Ducati 1'28.796 0.024 3 Jack Miller
Ducati 1'28.881 0.109 4 Jorge Martin
Ducati 1'28.958 0.186 5 Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha 1'29.003 0.231 6 Johann Zarco
Ducati 1'29.046 0.274 7 Maverick Viales
Aprilia 1'29.135 0.363 8 Joan Mir
Suzuki 1'29.255 0.483 9 Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 1'29.255 0.483 10 Fabio Di Giannantonio
Ducati 1'29.336 0.564 11 Alex Rins
Suzuki 1'29.424 0.652 12 Brad Binder
KTM 1'29.536 0.764 View full results
MotoGP Austrian GP - Q1 results:
Cla Rider Bike Time Gap 1 Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 1'29.231 2 Fabio Di Giannantonio
Ducati 1'29.350 0.119 3 Luca Marini
Ducati 1'29.386 0.155 4 Takaaki Nakagami
Honda 1'29.390 0.159 5 Pol Espargaro
Honda 1'29.475 0.244 6 Franco Morbidelli
Yamaha 1'29.540 0.309 7 Miguel Oliveira
KTM 1'29.613 0.382 8 Stefan Bradl
Honda 1'29.809 0.578 9 Andrea Dovizioso
Yamaha 1'30.085 0.854 10 Marco Bezzecchi
Ducati 1'30.122 0.891 11 Darryn Binder
Yamaha 1'30.328 1.097 12 Remy Gardner
KTM 1'30.397 1.166 13 Ral Fernndez
KTM 1'30.475 1.244 14 Lorenzo Savadori
Aprilia 1'30.487 1.256 15 Alex Marquez
Honda 1'33.653 4.422 View full results
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