Jorge Martin of Prima Pramac Racing smashed the lap record at the Red Bull Ring, setting a blistering time of 1:27.748 to seal pole for the Austrian Grand Prix, the 11th round of the MotoGP 2024 Championship, on Saturday.
Martin laid down a marker, starting from P1 ahead of championship rival Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati Lenovo Team, who starts second. Bagnaia had been very fast in the first parts of Q2, but got overhauled by Martin in the final minutes.
Bagnaia was forced to abort his final flying lap and will line up on the front row alongside Gresini Racing MotoGP™'s Marc Marquez. For the first time this season, it will be Martin, Bagnaia, and Marquez starting on the front row together.
Q1 delivered an exciting fight on its own as Jack Miller of Ducati Lenovo Team and Pol Espargaro from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing took the top two spots to transfer into Q2, ahead of Miguel Oliveira from Trackhouse Racing, who had identical times with the former, but Espargaro set a faster second lap.
Q2 opened up with quite the lap times, as Bagnaia set a new lap record—1:28.142—on his first run out. As usual, the riders went back into the pits to wait for the final run. Bagnaia went out first but Miller was only a few seconds behind him. Red sectors began flicking up for both Bagnaia and Martin; however, the latter found the fit finally to crack below 1:27 and set the fastest time.
Bagnaia also cracked the 1:27 barrier as he put on a great display in front of the Austrian fans, while sadly Pol Espargaro's session was brought to a premature end as he crashed at Turn 3.
Aleix Espargaró will start from P4, just 0.052s shy of the front row in the Aprilia Racing camp, as he lines up alongside Jack Miller – starting fifth after a mighty performance in Q1 – with Maverick Viñales of Aprilia Racing completing the second row.
Heading up the third row, Ducati Lenovo Team's Enea Bastianini qualified seventh and was only just about a second off pole position. Bastianini will line up ahead of Prima Pramac Racing's Franco Morbidelli, who did an awesome save at Turn 9 and continues his strong weekend. Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team's Marco Bezzecchi rounds out the third row.
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