Marco Bezzecchi rose from a challenging start in Q1 to ultimately snatch Austrian MotoGP pole position for Aprilia, as MotoGP chamionship leader Marc Marquez suffered a late crash.
Qualifying at the Red Bull Ring unfolded over two intense segments, with tire strategy, raw pace, technical mishaps, and the ever-present challenge of the Red Bull Ring’s demanding layout combining to produce an unpredictable spectacle.
The session began with Q1, the first elimination round for those who had not secured direct passage to Q2 via their practice results.
Among the notable names consigned to this session were Marco Bezzecchi and reigning world champion Jorge Martin who failed to break into the top ten in Friday’s practice due to a mix of relentless competition and minor mishaps.
As the session progressed it seemed clear that Bezzecchi and Martin would be the pair to proceed to the final shootout.
However, KTM’s Enea Bastianini aptly nicknamed ‘The Beast,’ unleashed a blistering lap in the final minutes that put him at the top of the Q1 timesheet.
Meanwhile, Honda’s Luca Marini pipped Martin for a Q2 spot, with the Aprilia star ultimately settling down in 14th on the grid – a massive blow for the rider looking to defend his title. As a result, it was Bastianini and Bezzecchi advancing to Q2 with Marini set to start 13th.
The main qualifying segmant, Q2, featured a mix of favorites and upstarts. The initial laps were fraught with tension as every rider sought the perfect tow through the long straights and sweeping corners of Spielberg.
However, Honda LCR’s Johann Zarco was the first to encounter trouble after crashing out but fortunately avoided any injury.
Factory KTM rookie Pedro Acosta positioned himself in fourth before his machine seemingly left him stranded, possibly due to a technical glitch or low fuel. In scenes rarely seen in MotoGP, Acosta was forced to manually push his RC-16 determined to regain participation in the session.
With Zarco sidelined and Acosta delayed attention turned to the established front-runners.
Marc Marquez who had dominated every outing so far throughout the weekend opened Q2 with extraordinary authority, posting a benchmark lap that served notice to the rest of the grid.
Marquez’s Ducati teammate Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia immediately responded assertively with a flyer and managed to slip ahead as the session approached its climax.
However, the twist came when Marco Bezzecchi who had just advanced from Q1 expertly positioned himself behind Bagnaia and utilized the slipstream to deliver a near-perfect final sector.
The stopwatch confirmed his effort, a 1:28.060, which vaulted him to the top of the leaderboard by just 0.016s over Alex Marquez who also made his own late surge to split Bezzecchi and Bagnaia.
Meanwhile, Marc Marquez pressed hard to claim the Austrian MotoGP pole position with just seconds remaining but lost the front end through the Turn 2 chicane and crashed.
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The Spaniard quickly remounted his battered Ducati but any hopes of regaining the lost momentum vanished as the session came to a close and the former champion had to settle in fourth, stunned by the turn of events.
Elsewhere, Enea Bastianini led the KTM charge in fifth followed by Gresini Ducati rookie Fermin Aldeguer whose clinical approach earned him a cool sixth.
Pedro Acosta despite his technical drama pushed to the maximum in his final attempt and posted competitive intermediate sector times but a “huge moment” in the final left-hander cost the KTM star several tenths, resigning him to seventh.
Franco Morbidelli qualified eighth for VR46 Ducati ahead of Raul Fernandez who endured a crash in Q2 but still managed to round out the top ten alongside Honda’s Joan Mir.
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