Gresini rider Enea Bastianini leads a renewed Ducati dominance in Austrian Grand Prix qualifying – Francesco Bagnaia narrowly beaten after FT4 crash
Enea Bastianini will start a race from pole for the first time in his MotoGP career at the 2022 World Motorcycle Championship Austrian Grand Prix. In qualifying on Saturday at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, the rain that had been forecast the day before failed to materialise. The track, now 4.348 kilometres long for the motorbikes, was completely dry.
Bastianini set a lap time of 1’28.772 in the second Q2 attempt. This secured his first pole of his own and the second for Gresini-Ducati (after Fabio Di Giannantonio at Mugello). Compared to last year’s pole time at Spielberg, when the chicane did not exist, Bastianini’s pole time is six seconds slower.
“My last pole [in the WRC] was a long time ago. This is my first MotoGP pole and it makes me very happy,” said Bastianini, adding, “Compared to yesterday, we were able to take another step forward and were well prepared for qualifying. I am also very happy for Gresini and Ducati, although we have too many Ducatis up front. It will be difficult tomorrow. Fabio is also fast here. I want to fight with them tomorrow. “
Francesco Bagnaia narrowly misses pole after FT4 crash
Second fastest was Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia. He was riding for the first time in FT4 just before qualifying with the aero update on the hump behind the seat that Bastianini has been riding with since Silverstone. “Pecco” Bagnaia crashed with it directly in FT4 in the penultimate corner of the track (turn 9), but still finished the final practice in P3.
That’ll do nicely for @PeccoBagnaia!
2nd on the grid and crucially he’s ahead of his title rivals! ⚠️AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/tfwLO9Re8m
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) August 20, 2022
“I have to thank my team because they managed to get the bike back in shape for qualifying. I am very happy with the front row. In the fourth free practice we found something that helped me a lot with my pace and feeling. Unfortunately there was this crash. Then with the second bike my feeling was not so good. At the beginning of the qualifying I made a few mistakes. It wasn’t easy, but I’m even happier with the result,” said Bagnaia.
Four Ducatis up on the grid
Third fastest in qualifying behind pole-sitter Bastianini and behind Bagnaia, beaten by just 0.024 seconds, was his Ducati teammate Jack Miller. This means that Ducati riders have conquered the entire front row of the grid for Sunday.
What’s more, Pramac rider Jorge Martin is the next rider on P4 on a Desomsedici bike from Bologna. The fastest non-Ducati rider was once again Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha). He will start from the middle of the second row in fifth place on Sunday. Johann Zarco on the second Pramac-Ducati completes this second row.
Maverick Vinales (Aprilia), Joan Mir (Suzuki) and Vinales’ team-mate Aleix Espargaro, who made it into Q2 via Q1, make up the third row. The fourth row is taken up by Gresini rider Di Giannantonio, who like Espargaro was forced into Q1, as well as Alex Rins (Suzuki) and Brad Binder, the fastest KTM rider at the Austrian brand’s home race.
Q1: Espargaro & Di Giannantonio continue – Bezzecchi & Marquez crash
In the first qualifying segment (Q1) Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) with best time and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini-Ducati) as already mentioned subsequently drove into Q2. On the other hand, Luca Marini (VR46-Ducati), third fastest, failed to advance by 0.036 seconds.
Meanwhile, Marini’s VR46 teammate Marco Bezzecchi and also Alex Marquez (LCR-Honda) had a crash in the chicane. Both of them slipped off the front wheel at the exit of the new section of the track at almost the same time. There was no contact between the two bikes. As a result, Bezzecchi did not manage more than 21st place on the grid. The young Marquez will start on Sunday in 25th place and thus last.
Identical crashes for @Marco12_B and @alexmarquez73!
With 3 minutes to go they need to run very fast to get back to the pits! AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/Ephn2wXucw
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) August 20, 2022
Stefan Bradl, who continues to deputise for Marc Marquez in the factory Honda team, took 18th on the grid, while Honda teammate Pol Espargaro also failed to progress in Q1 and will start from P15 on Sunday. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR-Honda), who finished just one position ahead of Espargaro in Q1, also missed out on making it into Q2 by a wide margin.
Andrea Dovizioso (RNF-Yamaha) had a crash in final practice (FT4) on the penultimate race weekend of his MotoGP career. In qualifying, “Dovi” finished tenth in Q1. That means grid position 20 for him in the 25-strong field on Sunday.
The start of the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix in the premier class MotoGP will be at the usual time of 14:00 on Sunday.
