Zarco fastest as Aleix Espargaro misses Q2 cut

The Aprilia star finishes 11th in FP3 and will have to go through Q1 at the Red Bull Ring

Friday pacesetter Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) heads into qualifying at the CryptoDATA Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich holding a 0.153s advantage over reigning World Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) as the Frenchman locked out the top two positions in FP3, with Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) finishing P3. However, the big news is Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) missing out on a top 10, the man second in the title chase will have to come through Q1 later.

Aleix Espargaro misses the Q2 cut

With the wet weather holding off there were some early improvers, the main one being Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) as he moved up to P12 after his late crash in FP2 – just 0.327s splitting the fastest 12 riders. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), Aprilia Racing wildcard Lorenzo Savadori and Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) were three early fallers, thankfully all riders were ok.

With 24 minutes to go, Oliveira rocketed to P2 to get within 0.006s of Johann Zarco’s (Prima Pramac Racing) Friday table-topping effort and in doing so shoved teammate Brad Binder outside the top 10. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) then went P1 with a 1:29.811 as things started getting busy at the Red Bull Ring, with riders’ focus turning from race pace to time attack.

By the time there were 13 minutes left on the clock, Miller was the pacesetter with eight riders sitting within a tenth of each other. That didn’t last long though as Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) went fastest by a couple of tenths, before Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) set a lap good enough for second. Aleix Espargaro, however, was struggling. And at Turn 2B, Espargaro suffered an identical crash to Savadori, meaning with 11 minutes left the Spaniard was P14 and needed to hop on his second bike to find a lap good enough for the top 10.

Briefly, Quartararo found himself outside the top 10 but a classy lap saw the World Championship leader rise to P1, beating Miller’s effort by 0.012s. Meanwhile, his closest rival Aleix Espargaro had slipped to P18. After a couple of laps getting heat in the tyre, Espargaro did climb into the top 10 but within a matter of seconds, he was back out again and after running wide at the penultimate corner, his session was over.

The top 10 and automatic Q2 qualifiers

Zarco’s last flying lap saw him leapfrog Quartararo to finish FP3 as the fastest rider on track, as Quartararo acts as the solo non-Ducati rider inside the top six. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) claimed P4 ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Bastianini, with Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) safely into Q2 in P7. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Viñales and Mir are the other automatic Q2 qualifiers as Espargaro misses out by just 0.002s in P11.

Qualifying at 2:10 p.m. is simply unmissable in Austria – tune in!

Top 10 combined:
1.Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) – 1:28.964
2. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) +0.153
3. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) +0.316
4. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) +0.360
5. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) +0.413
6. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) +0.493
7. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) +0.509
8. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) +0.557
9. Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) +0.559
10. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) +0.574

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