Espargaro bags KTM’s first pole as Zarco stars

Pol Espargaro secured KTM’s first MotoGP pole in qualifying for the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, as Takaaki Nakagami and the penalised Johann Zarco starred.

Espargaro took the lead by two tenths over Yamaha’s qualifying hot-shots Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Vinales around the six-minute mark in the 15-minute final segment but was then demoted by Nakagami – who turned a half-tenth deficit into a 0.043s lead through the final sector’s two fast right-handers.

But Espargaro responded with a 1m23.580s on his second run to go 0.022s clear of Nakagami and the Japanese LCR Honda rider was unable to respond, settling for a career-best second, with his last-gasp push lap scrubbed off for track limits and coming up half a tenth short anyway.

Johann Zarco was third-fastest in Q2, but has a pitlane start penalty for his Austrian Grand Prix crash with Franco Morbidelli.

Zarco had had surgery on Wednesday after fracturing his right scaphoid in that crash, and sat out Friday action completely – yet he comfortably progressed through the first segment of qualifying.

His Q1-topping 1m23.609s was his fastest lap across the two Red Bull Ring weekends, and though he was 0.023s slower in the second segment, it was still good enough for third.

Joan Mir will thus inherit a front-row spot from Zarco, with his team-mate Alex Rins in sixth – the Suzuki duo split by Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati) and Vinales, despite the former struggling with right shoulder pain after his FP3 crash.

Miguel Oliveira will start seventh for Tech 3 KTM, ahead of Austrian GP winner Andrea Dovizioso and Quartararo, the championship leader recording his lowest starting position since Brno last year despite lapping just 0.286s off pole.

Quartararo’s team-mate Morbidelli and the second works Ducati of Danilo Petrucci made up the order in Q2, Petrucci having made it through Q1 alongside Zarco.

Oliveira’s Tech3 team-mate Iker Lecuona had his best qualifying of the season yet, following fellow rookie Brad Binder on a late lap to overhaul the South African by 0.004s and provisionally take over a Q2 transfer spot.

A last-gasp improvement from Petrucci consigned Lecuona to a Q1 exit, but he will still start on the fourth row in 12th thanks to Zarco’s penalty.

Despite regularly losing around a quarter of a second in the third sector, Valentino Rossi was in with an outside chance of making Q2 on his final lap, only to fall at the penultimate corner.

He thus will have to settle for 14th on the grid, splitting Binder’s works KTM and the Pramac Ducati of substitute rider Michele Pirro on the fifth row.

Alex Marquez was the quickest of Honda’s three Q1 representatives and is due to start Sunday’s from his best grid slot yet of 16th – having had his fastest lap deleted for a possible yellow flag infringement and then reinstated.

Over at Aprilia, Bradley Smith outqualified team-mate Aleix Esparagro for the first time this season – by 0.013s – and will start 18th.

Qualifying Results