Ducati's supremacy in Styria is no longer as obvious as it was a year ago. Without fins and against competition that has become tougher on the Red Bull Ring route, the Desmosedici have certainly lost none of their splendor, but everything has become more complicated. The proof: on a front row where there are two red motorcycles, it is a Honda which leads the way. And we won't just have to fight against it. Because Andrea Dovizioso warns: this Grand Prix will once again be a story with rubber.
By this I mean that the choice of tires will prove essential. A decision which for the moment comes down to the ink bottle. Nobody, in fact, knows very well where they stand on the subject. And for good reason: the Michelin tire always has surprises in store. Take, for example, this Saturday. DesmoDovi achieved its qualifying performance with two mediums and not softs…
The one who was beaten by Márquez but who dominated his teammate Lorenzo et Casa Particular in Viñales explain : " the tires behaved differently today compared to yesterday, when we decided on softs. But they worked differently today and we weren't as competitive. On this point, the qualifications provided us with valuable information ».
« I'm on the front line and I understood more things. However, we don't know which tires we will take for the Grand Prix. We won't have the opportunity to really test during the warm-up which promises to be cooler than the race. And this race promises to be hotter than today's trials. However, this is the characteristic of Michelins: they are very sensitive to temperature. So, we have to interpret everything correctly ».
« Otherwise, pole position was possible but I didn't do a perfect lap. It won't just be Márquez to worry about tomorrow. There are a lot of drivers with good pace. It's impossible to make predictions, and even less so since what we've just seen with the tires. Their choice will make a big difference and that worries me because you can't predict how they will behave over the length of a race. But today we had confirmation that, overall, we were competitive ».
#AustrianGP MotoGP J.2: Ranking
| 1 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 1'23.235 | ||
| 2 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'23.379 | 0.144 | 0.144 |
| 3 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'23.621 | 0.386 | 0.242 |
| 4 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'23.754 | 0.519 | 0.133 |
| 5 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'23.780 | 0.545 | 0.026 |
| 6 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | 1'23.879 | 0.644 | 0.099 |
| 7 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'23.982 | 0.747 | 0.103 |
| 8 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'23.985 | 0.750 | 0.003 |
| 9 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'24.024 | 0.789 | 0.039 |
| 10 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'24.185 | 0.950 | 0.161 |
| 11 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'24.220 | 0.985 | 0.035 |
| 12 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Ducati | 1'24.483 | 1.248 | 0.263 |
| Q1 Results: | ||||||
| Q2 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'23.754 | ||
| Q2 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'23.849 | 0.095 | 0.095 |
| 13 | 94 | Jonas Folger | Yamaha | 1'24.015 | 0.261 | 0.166 |
| 14 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | 1'24.036 | 0.282 | 0.021 |
| 15 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Ducati | 1'24.037 | 0.283 | 0.001 |
| 16 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | 1'24.101 | 0.347 | 0.064 |
| 17 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 1'24.202 | 0.448 | 0.101 |
| 18 | 36 | Mika Kallio | KTM | 1'24.261 | 0.507 | 0.059 |
| 19 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | 1'24.321 | 0.567 | 0.060 |
| 20 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'24.447 | 0.693 | 0.126 |
| 21 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'24.448 | 0.694 | 0.001 |
| 22 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | 1'24.530 | 0.776 | 0.082 |
| 23 | 22 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia | 1'24.852 | 1.098 | 0.322 |
| 24 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Honda | 1'24.900 | 1.146 | 0.048 |
