Martín Takes Second Consecutive Red Bull Ring Pole
Calum Gill 14:38 14/08/2021
Jorge Martín took his second pole position in the space of a week, with the Pramac rider taking top spot on the grid for the Austrian Grand Prix.
After having to progress through Q1, the Spaniard took back the all-time lap record, pipping championship leader Fabio Quartararo to the pole by 0.034. Francesco Bagnaia placed third on the Ducati, whilst Martín's teammate Johann Zarco set a lap good enough for fourth place. Some gloriously aggressive qualifying riding put Marc Márquez fifth on the grid for Honda, between Zarco and the second Ducati of Jack Miller.
Last week’s runner-up Joan Mir was seventh for Suzuki ahead of Aleix Espargaró on the sole Aprilia in the field this weekend. Miguel Oliveira came through Q1 to qualify as highest KTM in ninth, just in front of team-mate Brad Binder. The Hondas of Pol Espargaró and Takaaki Nakagami rounded out the Q2 pack. Álex Rins again underperformed in qualifying on the second Suzuki and was knocked out in Q1, so will start 13th.
Álex Márquez was 14th for LCR Honda, ahead of Enea Bastianini for Avintia and Tech3's Iker Lecuona. Luca Marini was 17th for Sky VR46 Avintia, with Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT) 18th, and Danilo Petrucci (Tech3) 19th. Cal Crutchlow remained off the pace on his MotoGP return with the troubled Petronas SRT Yamaha team and will start at the back of the 20-bike grid - depleted by Maverick Viñales’ suspension and Lorenzo Savadori’s injury - for his second race of the year.
