2023-08-19 13:13:36
By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted 41 minutes ago, Just Updated
Francesco Bagnaia JURE MAKOVEC / AFP
Leader of the World Championship, the Italian could well consolidate his status on the Austrian circuit a little more.
Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) took pole position in the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday, the tenth round of the MotoGP season, while Frenchmen Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac) will start 9th and 10th.
The reigning world champion, who signed the 16th pole of his career, the fifth in ten races this year, will start ahead of the Spaniard Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) and the South African Brad Binder (KTM). The second row will be occupied by Australian Jack Miller (KTM), Spaniard Alex Marquez (Ducati-Gresini) and Italian Luca Marini (Ducati-VR46). Bagnaia, who is leading the world championship standings with a 41 length lead over the Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac), only 12th in qualifying, will have the opportunity to increase his lead on Saturday afternoon during of the sprint.
I think we still had a little margin to do the perfect lap, but I did my best.
Fabio Quartararo
Two weeks after a complicated weekend at Silverstone (Great Britain), where he had his worst qualifying result in MotoGP (last), Fabio Quartararo will start from ninth place, in third row, behind the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia -RNF). “I think we still had a little margin to do the perfect lap, but I did my best. Our pace was pretty good this morning so I’m hoping to get some good starts so I can fight for a good result in the sprint on Saturday and the race on Sunday.“said the Nice. The 2021 world champion, who is showing a new state of mind this weekend in Austria by declaring that he has “no waiting» and not worrying about the classification, will try to get a Top 10 to reassure himself on a circuit he likes.
His compatriot Johann Zarco, who had achieved a promising fifth time on Friday during qualifying practice, on the other hand took a disappointing tenth place in qualifying on Saturday and will be condemned to make a further comeback to maintain his fifth place in the championship standings. The official Honda team again experienced disastrous qualifying since neither the Spaniard Joan Mir, 2020 world champion, nor his compatriot Marc Marquez, six-time MotoGP world champion, managed to get out of the repechages. The two drivers will therefore start well away from the lead, in sixth row, in 16th place for Mir and 18th for Marquez.
#Francesco #Bagnaia #pole #Austria #Fabio #Quartararo #Johann #Zarco #top