Maverick Viñales takes pole position for the MotoGP World Championship in Austria
Maverick Viñales takes pole position for the MotoGP World Championship at the Austrian Circuit, Miller 2nd and Quartararo 3rd
The MotoGP World Championship was the next to head out to the Spielberg Circuit in Austria, to fight for pole position for the event, so there was maximum anticipation on the Austrian track after seeing the KTM win the previous round and now arriving at its home circuit.
First out were the riders who had not managed to place in the top 10 of the official practice times, battling in Q1 for the first two spots that gave access to Q2 and the top 12 on the grid, so there was great anticipation in this session, with Johann Zarco looking very strong from the start and Rossi and Petrucci fighting for the other spot; in the end Zarco and Rossi were the best. The top 13-22 was completed as follows: Petrucci 13th, Aleix Espargaró 14th, Crutchlow 15th, Lecuona 16th, Binder 17th, Márquez 18th, Bradl 19th, Smith 20th, Rabat 21st, Pirro 22nd.
And finally the moment of truth arrived, as Maverick Viñales took charge of the official practice session and moved into first position, with Fabio Quartararo hot on his heels, so there was maximum anticipation for the final part of the practice session.
Viñales fought to hold his position, but saw Dovizioso take it away from him for a moment during the session. However, the number 12 quickly recovered it and managed to post a lap time of 1:23.450, to earn pole position for the event in Austria. Second place went to Miller, who threw down a massive lap on the final lap to take 2nd, just 0.068s behind, while Quartararo also finished very close to the leader, 0.087s off the pole sitter, so there was very close competition at the front.
Pole for Viñales, followed by Miller 2nd, Quartararo 3rd, Dovi 4th, Pol 5th, Mir 6th, Morbidelli 7th, Rins 8th, Zarco 9th, Nakagami 10th, Oliveira 11th and Rossi 12th.
On to the race.
