SPIELBERG, Austria – Maverick Viñales laid claim to the pole for Sunday’s MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring during qualifying Saturday.
Viñales topped the qualifying charts with a 1:23.450, which put him .068 seconds ahead of the impressive Jack Miller of Pramac Racing. They’ll be joined on the front row by championship leader Fabio Quartararo of Petronas Yamaha SRT.
“I’m really happy because my objective today was to be on the front row, but suddenly I felt an incredible feeling with the bike, also in FP4,” Viñales said. “From this morning we made a really big improvement. The team has done a really good job last night, so we need to try to understand which tyre will be the best option for tomorrow’s race. Anyway, the bike is working fantastic, very different from Brno. So, I’m very happy and enthusiastic. We know that on one lap we can be very fast.”
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso earned the fourth starting position, while Red Bull KTM’s Pol Espargaro took the fifth spot. Joan Mir of Suzuki qualified sixth to complete the second row.
Franco Morbidelli of Petronas Yamaha SRT, Suzuki’s Alex Rins, Esponsorama Racing’s Johann Zarco and LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami completed the top-10 qualifiers.