Jorge Martin Grabs Austrian Pole with Sensational Lap

Just days after losing his championship lead, Jorge Martin secured his third MotoGP pole position of the season, dominating qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.

The 'Martinator' claimed the top spot at the Red Bull Ring with a phenomenal lap, clocking in at 1:27.917. This put the Spaniard a mere 0.015 seconds ahead of current championship leader and reigning champion Marc Marquez, who will start second for Aprilia for the third consecutive weekend.

Pedro Acosta completed the front row, 0.071 seconds off the pace. Acosta had been the strong favorite for pole after his impressive pace in Friday's practice sessions. However, the KTM rider couldn't quite replicate that speed in the crucial moments of the qualifying battle, though he still secured a coveted front-row start.

Marco Bezzecchi, winner of the last two qualifying sessions in Aragon and San Marino, will lead the second row, ahead of Ai Ogura and Alex Marquez, whose qualifying ended with a crash at Turn 1. Francesco Bagnaia had his strongest qualifying performance since late June, securing seventh. He will be joined on the third row by the two Fabios, Di Giannantonio and Quartararo. Johann Zarco, Brad Binder, and Fermín Aldeguer will make up the fourth row of the grid at the Red Bull Ring.

At the end of Q1, Zarco and Bagnaia topped the timesheets with identical laps of 1:28.753. The advantage went to the French LCR Honda rider, whose second-fastest lap was superior. However, this proved irrelevant as both riders comfortably advanced to the decisive 15-minute Q2 session for pole position.

Raul Fernandez narrowly missed out, finishing 0.124 seconds behind Zarco and Bagnaia, and will start 13th. The Trackhouse Aprilia rider will share the fifth row with Pol Espargaro and Luca Marini, who yesterday missed direct Q2 entry by just 0.004 seconds, and today finished 0.357 seconds behind Zarco and Bagnaia.

Diogo Moreira, Enea Bastianini, and Takaaki Nakagami will form the sixth row, ahead of Franco Morbidelli, Alex Rins, and Jack Miller, who will occupy the seventh. Toprak Razgatlioglu will be alone on the final row, as he was the only rider unable to get within a second of the two Q1 leaders' times.

The Austrian Grand Prix weekend, the 15th round of the 2026 MotoGP season, will continue at 4:00 PM Bulgarian time with the 14-lap sprint race at the Red Bull Ring.