Austria MotoGP qualifying
By: Matt Beer
Summary
Status: Stopped
That's it for our live coverage of qualifying, make sure to tune in for tomorrow's race as well, where the MotoGP field will hopefully give Marquez more of a fight.
Marquez: "Was a really good lap, I was looking for the 1m22s but I did a mistake on the last sector, went too wide, was Turn 10. Anyway, apart from that, we did a great job and especially FP4, we had great rhythm, this is the most important. Now is time to understand which is the best tyre for tomorrow. Let's do it, let's try to fight until the end, we will see where we can finish."
Quartararo: "This one I don't know how I do it because honestly I was really on the limit, the last lap was incredible. For me the last two laps were very fast and we did our best job. This second position is like a pole position. Just thanks to the team, they make an amazing job, let's see what we can do for tomorrow."
Dovizioso: "It was very important to start the first row. We did it, a bit far from Marc but the pace is quite good so let's see tomorrow in the race because Marc is very strong and he really wants to win here but we work quite well for the race so we will see."
Like Bagnaia, Nakagami also celebrates his best MotoGP qualifying in sixth, narrowly beating Rins and Miller.
Vinales settles for fourth with Bagnaia taking a very impressive fifth, the best moment of his otherwise difficult rookie season.
His gap is now up to 0.469s. Nobody seems to have an answer, as the final minute of qualifying begins.
It seems like Vinales and Espargaro are on a two-stopper strategy as they are already back on track.
Seven minutes to go, Marquez is leading Vinales, Quartararo, Miller and Crutchlow. The factory Ducatis of Dovizioso and Petrucci are only sixth and ninth.
Vinales is the first man to pit, followed by a few others. If he can improve enough with a soft, Vinales could very well be our poleman tomorrow.
Marquez goes two and a half tenths quicker than Vinales, he is only 0.2s off Iannone's track record from 2016.
Since the Qatar season opener, every qualifying was topped by either Marquez or Quartararo. Who could end this streak today? Vinales, perhaps Dovizioso.
Q2 line-up: Marquez; Vinales; Dovizioso; Petrucci; Quartararo; Rossi; Miller; Nakagami; Rins; P. Espargaro; Crutchlow; Bagnaia.
Q1 results: 1 Crutchlow; 2 Bagnaia; 3 Oliveira; 4 Morbidelli; 5 Rabat; 6 Zarco; 7 Abraham; 8 Iannone; 9 A. Espargaro; 10 Syahrin; 11 Bradl.
Fastest after the first two sectors, Crutchlow's lap is ruined again. He can try one more time, or he won't take part in Q2.
The final runs begin with Rabat, Morbidelli and Iannone running together and all of them improving, but all of them narrowly missing out on the top two.
During the mid-session lull, Bagnaia is leading Crutchlow by 0.037s. Rabat, Morbidelli and Zarco are their closest challengers.
Trending
Latest news
Da Costa: FIA must "find another way" other than disqualifying cars post-race
Monaco ePrix
Da Costa: FIA must "find another way" other than disqualifying cars post-race
Newgarden opens up over IndyCar rules breach: “I’m not a liar”
Barber Motorsports Park
Newgarden opens up over IndyCar rules breach: “I’m not a liar”
How studying Tost, Whiting and Binotto shaped F1's latest team boss
Plus
Plus
How studying Tost, Whiting and Binotto shaped F1's latest team boss
Top Comments