Red Bull Ring MotoGP: KTM's Espargaro tops FP1

With an unpredictable weather forecast for later today, the latter stages of FP1 featured riders trying to secure provisional Q2 places.

Championship leader Fabio Quartararo set the early pace in the opening 45-minute session with a 1m26.282s, though this was quickly beaten by Espargaro on the KTM.

Espargaro tested at Red Bull Ring during the coronavirus-enforced break along with KTM test rider Dani Pedrosa, and he used this relatively recent knowledge of the track to lead much of the session. 

He improved on his second effort to a 1m24.858s, bettering this further to a 1m24.685s with 21 minutes remaining.

Due to the extreme heat build-up in the tyres at the hard-acceleration Red Bull Ring, Michelin has once again brought a special construction tyre to cope.

Ducati, and particularly Andrea Dovizioso, has struggled to get to grips with Michelin’s new construction tyre in use in 2020 – though Dovizioso on Thursday noted that the alternate tyre for the Austrian double-header could work in his favour.

Briefly hitting top spot with a 1m24.772s around 10 minutes into the session, Dovizioso would end the session just 0.044 seconds adrift of Espargaro.

Espargaro was briefly deposed by LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami on the year-old Honda, but fired in a 1m24.193s with three minutes remaining which would remain the best time at the chequered flag. 

Joan Mir got the Suzuki up to third, 0.129s off the pace, but had his best lap cancelled for improving his laptime through a yellow flag sector for a crash for Aprilia’s Bradley Smith at Turn 4, which dropped him down to ninth.

That promoted Nakagami to third, with Alex Rins the lead Suzuki ahead of Petronas’ Franco Morbidelli leading the Yamaha charge on the ‘A-spec’ M1.

Fellow Brno podium-finisher Johann Zarco (Avintia) was sixth on the Ducati which won last year’s race in the hands of Dovizioso, with Tech 3’s Miguel Oliveira seventh on the KTM ahead of Pramac’s Jack Miller and Mir.

Quartararo completed the top 10, bumping his future factory Yamaha teammate and nearest title rival Maverick Vinales down to 11th late on in a frustrating session for both.

Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) headed Valentino Rossi on the other works team Yamaha, with Brno race winner Binder 0.812s off the pace down in 16th as he gets to grips with the Red Bull Ring on a MotoGP bike for the first time.

The injured Francesco Bagnaia has been replaced by Ducati test rider Michele Pirro at Pramac. He was 17th at the end of FP1 ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Alex Marquez on the works Honda.

Austrian Grand Prix - FP1 Results:

Cla	#	Rider		Bike	Time	Gap
1	44	Pol Espargaro		KTM	1'24.193
2	4	Andrea Dovizioso		Ducati	1'24.237	0.044
3	30	Takaaki Nakagami		Honda	1'24.378	0.185
4	42	Alex Rins		Suzuki	1'24.573	0.380
5	21	Franco Morbidelli		Yamaha	1'24.588	0.395
6	5	Johann Zarco		Ducati	1'24.655	0.462
7	88	Miguel Oliveira		KTM	1'24.718	0.525
8	43	Jack Miller		Ducati	1'24.724	0.531
9	36	Joan Mir		Suzuki	1'24.743	0.550
10	20	Fabio Quartararo		Yamaha	1'24.753	0.560
11	12	Maverick Viñales		Yamaha	1'24.779	0.586
12	9	Danilo Petrucci		Ducati	1'24.837	0.644
13	46	Valentino Rossi		Yamaha	1'24.879	0.686
14	35	Cal Crutchlow		Honda	1'24.944	0.751
15	27	Iker Lecuona		KTM	1'24.991	0.798
16	33	Brad Binder		KTM	1'25.005	0.812
17	51	Michele Pirro		Ducati	1'25.152	0.959
18	41	Aleix Espargaro		Aprilia	1'25.165	0.972
19	73	Alex Marquez		Honda	1'25.249	1.056
20	38	Bradley Smith		Aprilia	1'25.297	1.104
21	6	Stefan Bradl		Honda	1'25.371	1.178
22	53	Tito Rabat		Ducati	1'25.729	1.536
View full results