Jorge Martin stormed to pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg, his first since the French GP. The Aprilia rider edged out Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta in a thrilling qualifying session.
Q1 saw Francesco Bagnaia overcome recent struggles to advance to Q2 with a time of 1:28.753, identical to Johann Zarco's. The duo was a tenth ahead of Raul Fernandez, the first to be eliminated. In Q2, Marc Marquez, despite a crash in FP2, initially set the pace before being usurped by Acosta. In the final five minutes, Martin snatched pole from Acosta, while Marc Marquez slotted into second. The top three were separated by just 71 milliseconds!
Martin was delighted with his performance. “Honestly, I enjoyed this pole. When I feel everything is right with the bike, I can push hard, and that's what was missing a bit on Friday. Fortunately, the base was there, and we only worked on small details. I did a good run alone, pushing like a beast, and that 1:27 was a nice lap. There were improvements compared to yesterday when the bike had no rear grip and I suffered quite a bit. Now we've made a good step overall and that helped everywhere,” he said.
Marc Marquez was also pleased. “I'm very happy because I saw I was struggling especially after yesterday's feeling, particularly on the single lap. Today we made a step forward and it's very important to start on the front row, both for the sprint and the long race. We'll try to give 100%, with Pedro who is very strong and Jorge who has great speed and talent. For me, Martin is closer in the championship, but there are still many races left and we'll have to give 100%. Today Jorge is on pole and will be very strong,” he commented.
Acosta, meanwhile, acknowledged the difficulties. “It's known how much we struggle in qualifying with the soft tyre, so we have to be satisfied. We start from third position, so we'll see what we can do today. It's easy to make mistakes on this track, so we need to be as calm as possible. Marc showed good pace this morning and Jorge will surely fight for the title. We'll see,” said the KTM rider.
With this result, Martin strengthens his championship lead, while Marc Marquez and Acosta remain hot on his heels. The sprint and main race will be the true test at the Red Bull Ring, where precision is paramount.
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