Last Sunday’s winner Jorge Martin fights his way through Qualifying 1 to snatch a repeat Red Bull Ring pole position with a new lap record at the end of Qualifying 2 for the 2021 Austrian MotoGP.
The Pramac Ducati rider will be joined on Sunday’s front row by Yamaha’s world championship leader Fabio Quartararo, fastest for much of the session, and Factory Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.
Maverick Vinales has been suspended from this weekend’s race by Yamaha ‘due to the unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle’ during last Sunday’s Styria MotoGP, rumoured to mean deliberate over-revving of the bike: ‘The rider’s actions could have potentially caused significant damage to the engine… which could have caused serious risks to himself and possibly other riders.’
Michelin has changed the hard front tyre option after an issue for Miguel Oliveira in Sunday’s Styrian race.
Cal Crutchlow is making the second of three planned appearances as a replacement for the injured Franco Morbidelli at Petronas Yamaha.
Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori is absent due to an ankle injury in last Sunday’s fiery accident with Dani Pedrosa.
The back-to-back Austrian events are the first since the start of the Covid pandemic without special restrictions in place for spectator numbers.