Marquez edges Ducatis in Austria qualifying

Marc Marquez has qualified on pole for the Austrian MotoGP with a lap 0.002s faster than Andrea Dovizioso’s best as Jorge Lorenzo also made the front row.

At the factory Movistar Yamaha camp, however, Valentino Rossi missed Qualifying 2 and Maverick Viñales qualified 11th.

Lorenzo briefly interrupted Marquez’s time at the top of Q2 but the Repsol Honda rider was just good enough in the end.

Marquez was fastest after the first timed laps and then at the end of the first runs before Lorenzo, who opted for three runs, went quicker in his middle run.

However, the runaway championship leader would not be denied as he twice improved in his final run to set the ultimate benchmark at 1:23.241s.

The Ducati Team riders were the only two who could take the fight to Marquez and Dovizioso fell agonisingly short in the final minute of qualifying.

Lorenzo got down to a 1:23.376s on his third run before going faster than Marquez to the first sector but ultimately remained third.

“It is a circuit where they (Ducati Team) are very, very strong but anyway I was able to be fast during all the practice (sessions) and this is the most important,” said Marquez.

“(It) Looks like tomorrow will be dry so it is important to concentrate because they have good pace.”

Heading up Row 2 is the Pramac Ducati of Danilo Petrucci, alongside Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Johann Zarco (Tech3 Yamaha).

Sitting behind them will be Tito Rabat (Avintia Ducati), Andrea Iannone (Suzuki Ecstar), and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda).

Viñales never looked like qualifying in a prominent position and ended up on the middle of the fourth row, between Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar) and Alvaro Bautista (Nieto Ducati), both of whom came through Qualifying 1.

Rossi had to go into the first 15 minutes of qualifying, for which the starting order was effectively decided by Free Practice 1 after weather affected the next two practice sessions.

The Italian didn’t make it out and will start 14th.

Jack Miller was seventh-fastest in Q1 after failing to set a time during his first run due to a gearbox issue for his Pramac Ducati.

He will, however, start 16th due to a three-position grid penalty for Franco Morbidelli (Marc VDS Honda) for impeding another rider while riding slowly on the racing line during FP1.

Race start for the 28-lap grand prix is tomorrow night at 2200 AEST.

Qualifying: Austrian MotoGP

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Time	Gap 1st/prev
1	93	Marc MARQUEZ	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1:23.241
2	04	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	1:23.243	0.002 / 0.002
3	99	Jorge LORENZO	ESP	Ducati Team	Ducati	1:23.376	0.135 / 0.133
4	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	1:23.503	0.262 / 0.127
5	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	1:23.812	0.571 / 0.309
6	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1:23.887	0.646 / 0.075
7	53	Tito RABAT	ESP	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1:23.922	0.681 / 0.035
8	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1:24.091	0.850 / 0.169
9	26	Dani PEDROSA	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1:24.124	0.883 / 0.033
10	42	Alex RINS	ESP	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1:24.227	0.986 / 0.103
11	25	Maverick VIÑALES	ESP	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1:24.284	1.043 / 0.057
12	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	ESP	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	1:24.342	1.101 / 0.058
13	38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:24.245	Q1 / Q1
14	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1:24.309	Q1 / 0.064
15	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	ESP	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1:24.762	Q1 / 0.453
16	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	1:24.805	Q1 / 0.038
17	55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1:24.834	Q1 / 0.029
18	10	Xavier SIMEON	BEL	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1:24.868	Q1 / 0.034
19	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1:24.767	Penalty
20	45	Scott REDDING	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1:25.067	Q1 / 0.199
21	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	1:25.178	Q1 / 0.111
22	12	Thomas LUTHI	SUI	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1:25.310	Q1 / 0.132
23	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	1:25.339	Q1 / 0.029