Austrian Grand Prix qualifying saw Jorge Martin secure pole for Aprilia, with Marc Marquez in second and Pedro Acosta rounding the front row.
Early Rhythm Shifted by Free Practice 2 Chaos
Free Practice 2 began damp, causing many riders to retreat. The session’s relevance dropped, yet tension spiked towards the closing minutes.
Marquez, venturing out late, topped the timesheets just before the session ended. Despite being ineffective for Q2, he pushed until a hairline slip on Turn 4.
On his final lap, Marquez crashed at Turn 1, prompting Ducati to evaluate his bike and leaving the MotoGP world full of uncertainty.
Qualifying 1 Features Tight Cluster at the Top
Qualifying 1 was notably minimal in action, save for an exceptionally close pair of lap times. Johann Zarco of LCR Honda and Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati both posted identical best laps.
Raul Fernandez of Trackhouse Aprilia missed the cut, as a mid‑session bike switch left him a kilometre behind the frontrunners, securing a 13th‑place grid position.
Q2 Final Push Yields Tightly Bunched Front Row
Martin opened Q2 with a blistering first lap, then settled in for a second that put Acosta just 0.04 seconds behind.
Marquez squeezed in a slight advantage, climbing to second before a track outfall doomed any further improvement.
The trio—Martin, Marquez, Acosta—crossed the line with only 0.071 seconds separating them, highlighting how razor‑thin the margins have become.
Other Front‑Row and Mid‑Grid Movements
Marco Bezzecchi captured fourth place, 0.25 seconds off the pole. Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura and Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez lined up the next two spots.
Bagnaia settled for seventh after a slump, and equal‑time liabilities to the third row were shared by Fabio Di Giannantonio and Fabio Quartararo.
Fermin Aldeguer, meanwhile, could not translate his outstanding Friday performance into Q2 momentum, ending almost a second slower than the leaders and trailing behind Johann Zarco and Brad Binder.
Looking Ahead
The front‑row battle at the A1 TechCircuit hints at an intensely competitive Austrian GP, with only milliseconds separating the top three, setting the tone for a high‑stakes race ahead.
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