MotoGP Austria: Bastianini celebrates maiden pole

Gresini Racing’s Enea Bastianini secured his maiden pole position in MotoGP as he topped a quartet of Ducatis at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday.

The Italian’s 1’28.772 headed the factory Lenovo GP22’s of Pecco Bagnaia and Jack Miller with the trio covered by just a tenth for the premier class qualifying clash while Prima Pramac’s Jorge Martin headed off Monster Energy Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo in the top five.

Qualifying at the Red Bull Ring kicked off with title-challenger Aleix Espargaro battling for promotion in Q1 alongside younger brother Pol and KTM’s Miguel Oliveira as the new turn two chicane was put through its paces in the all-out laps.

The Aprilia rider set the pace with a 1’29.692 from the Gresini Ducati of Fabio Di Giannantonio with his sibling’s Repsol Honda taking third. The Espargaro brothers locked out the standings 0.045s apart as Pol advanced to second next time around with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami and Oliveira battling for fourth. An Italian trio next in line as Marco Bezzecchi, Monster Energy Yamaha’s Franky Morbidelli and WithU RNF’s Andrea Dovizioso sat sixth to eighth before Luca Marini rose to third on the second Mooney VR46.

The final four minutes found both Bezzecchi and Alex Marquez down at the chicane in tandem crashes as the LCR followed the Ducati into the gravel. The Spaniard looking at a back of the grid start having circulated in 14th for the session so far.

Espargaro advanced the pace on the RS-GP with a 1’29.231 as the pack fired up behind him. Di Giannantonio displacing the Honda from the promotion zone with Marini and Nakagami knocking the younger Espargaro down further as the flag came out, with the Respol rider left to settle for fifth. Morbidelli completed the session in sixth from