MotoGP Qualifying Spielberg 2026: Jorge Martin conquers pole ahead of Marc Marquez

– After Pedro Acosta dominated Friday’s practice at the KTM home race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, he was narrowly defeated in qualifying. Jorge Martin (Aprilia) claimed his third pole position of the 2026 MotoGP season in Austria, just ahead of Marc Marquez (Ducati) and Acosta.

After overnight rain, the track was still wet in the morning. The Moto3 and Moto2 classes had to run their practice sessions on rain tires. At the start of the half-hour MotoGP practice before qualifying, there were still wet spots.

However, the ideal line was already largely dry. Nevertheless, most riders waited longer in the box. Only seven riders initially went out on the track, six of them immediately choosing slicks.

By the end of the practice, everyone was on slicks on the track, but the lap times were slower than in Friday’s practice. One minute before the end of FP2, Marc Marquez crashed in turn 1. The right side of his Ducati’s fairing was damaged.

Shortly before, Marc Marquez had set the best time in FP2 with 1:29.663 minutes. That was significantly slower than Acosta’s Friday best time (1:28.381 minutes). With these conditions, qualifying began.

Zarco and Bagnaia tied in Q1

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) had to compete in Q1 for the fifth consecutive time. After the first attempts in Q1, Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse-Aprilia) and Pol Espargaro (Tech3-KTM) held the two Q2 spots. Bagnaia was seventh.

Because he felt vibrations, Fernandez switched to the second motorcycle for his second attempt. Although the Aprilia rider improved his time, he dropped back to third place. Thirteenth place was his worst starting position since Le Mans.

Johann Zarco (LCR-Honda) and Bagnaia recorded exactly the same time of 1:28.753 minutes. Zarco was placed first ahead of Bagnaia because his second lap was better than Bagnaia’s. Both advanced to Q2 (Q1 result).

Extremely close decision in Q2

For Q2, Marc Marquez had both motorcycles available, as his mechanics only had to replace the damaged fairing parts. After the first two flying laps, the world champion was initially also in the lead.

But then Acosta set a free lap of 1:28.328 minutes and took the lead 0.147 seconds ahead of Marc Marquez. Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati) was third after the first attempts.

After switching to a new soft rear tire, the time attack began again. Martin attacked and took first place with 1:28.223 minutes. In his next lap, Martin improved to 1:27.917 minutes.

Then Acosta crossed the finish line with 1:27.988 minutes and was the new second, but moments later Marc Marquez set 1:27.932 minutes and snatched second place.

Thus, Martin was 0.015 seconds faster than Marc Marquez and 0.071 seconds faster than Acosta. For Martin, who won his first MotoGP race in Spielberg in 2021, it was the third pole position of this season.

“Of course, I tried to do my best,” says Martin. “At first, I was behind Marc and although I was fast, I couldn’t ride the way I wanted. I couldn’t brake hard enough.”

“That’s why I decided to ride alone and not take any risks with yellow flags. I gave my best, pushed like crazy, and kept everything under control, but of course at the limit.”

“I am really, really happy. It seems like we made a big step since yesterday. This morning I was fast, and now also in qualifying. That was one of our weak points recently.”

Marc Marquez also made progress since Friday’s practice: “Yesterday I had big problems during the time attack. Today we were able to improve. And now we are on the front row, so I am happy.”

“We know that there is a big difference here between a new and a used tire. The sprint race will be one thing, but especially in the main race, it is always important to start from the front row.”

Although he only finished third, Acosta is satisfied: “I am super happy. We know that we usually struggle a lot in qualifying. Being on the front row at a home Grand Prix is of course something special.”

“Everyone in the team works incredibly hard. Let’s see what we can achieve in the sprint race, but normally we start much further back. Let’s see what we can do here.”

Alex Marquez crashes: The other positions

Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) qualified fourth with a 0.249-second deficit. Ai Ogura (Trackhouse-Aprilia) starts fifth after missing two race weekends (broken left thumb).

Alex Marquez crashed two minutes before the end of the session in turn 1. It was a mirror image of the crash his brother had already experienced in FP2. Nevertheless, the Gresini rider kept sixth place in the second starting row (Q2 result).

Bagnaia had a better qualifying as seventh than recently and was also a close tenth of a second faster than Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati). Fabio Quartararo was the best Yamaha rider in ninth.

As the best Honda rider, Zarco followed in tenth place. The fourth starting row was completed by Brad Binder (KTM) and Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini-Ducati). Aldeguer was second in Friday’s practice.

Apart from Quartararo, who qualified directly for Q2 as tenth on Friday, it was very difficult for the other Yamaha riders. Alex Rins and the Pramac duo Jack Miller and Toprak Razgatlioglu qualified for the last three starting spots.