BEZZECCHI TAKES FANTASTIC POLE IN MOTOGP - Motorsportsclicks

Marco Bezzecchi has taken an exceptional pole position coming from Q1. That is his 5th pole position in MotoGP, with the last one being in India in 2023.

Q1 had the presence of riders such as Jorge Martin, Fabio Quartararo, Marco Bezzecchi and Enea Bastianini. Both Aprilias started the first run leading the classification.

Maverick Viñales struggled since the start of the session due to feeling pain from his surgery on the shoulder. His best time was only a 1:29.2, which was 1 second slower than the ideal time for Q1.

Medical director Angel Charte decided that Maverick was not ready for the weekend, and the KTM rider is declared unfit for the rest of the event. He will not have any replacement.

Towards the end of the session Enea Bastianini set a lap of 1:28.0 going to P1, putting Martin and Marini out of the promoting zone. Marco Bezzecchi stick to P2. Fabio di Giannantonio and Fabio Quartararo stayed only P5 and P6 respectively.

Q2 started with an early crash from Johann Zarco, rider quickly got up and was ok.

Pedro Acosta set a time for the 4th place, behind both Marquez brothers and Bagnaia, but all of a sudden a technical issue stopped him on track. Fortunately with the help of the marshalls he kept his bike going until the paddock. The Spaniard was able to get back to the track but only qualified P7.

Bezzecchi then set the fastest lap with three minutes to the end, one and a half tenths ahead of Bagnaia. Alex Marquez was third and Marc Marquez fourth.

However, Marc ended up crashing in sector 1 with two minutes to go, and got major damage on the sides of his bike, and was not able to improve.

Marco Bezzecchi took his first ever pole position with Aprilia at the Red Bull Ring, with Alex Marquez who will have to serve a long lap penalty in the race right behind him and Bagnaia in third. Marc stayed P4.