Marquez beats Ducatis to Austrian pole

MotoGP champion Marc Marquez out-paced a trio of Ducatis to claim pole position at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Ducati’s powerful Desmosedici has won both previous editions of the Austrian round, courtesy of Andrea Iannone and then Andrea Dovizioso.

But Marquez – who lost out to Dovizioso at the final corner a year ago – kept his Honda in touch through the fast sections, then edged out an advantage in the twisty final part to claim pole by just 0.002s from Dovizioso.

Dovizioso’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was just 0.135s from Marquez in third, with Pramac’s Danilo Petrucci completing a top four covered by 0.262s.

Satellite riders Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech3) will join Petrucci on row two, with Andrea Iannone (Suzuki), Tito Rabat (Avintia Ducati) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) forming row three.

Completing the Qualifying 2 competitors were Alex Rins (Suzuki), Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha) and Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Ducati).

Vinales’ team-mate Valentino Rossi didn’t progress past Qualifying 1 and suffered his worst qualifying for several seasons, in 14th.

Qualifying took place in dry and sunny conditions after earlier rain. Sunday is also forecast to be dry.

Marquez, narrowly beaten by Dovizioso and Lorenzo one week ago at Brno, will start the race with a 49-point title lead over Rossi.

CLICK HERE for the full Qualifying results…