Martin smashes lap record and beats Bagnaia to crucial pole

Jorge Martin obliterated the Spielberg lap record to take pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix, beating pre-qualifying favourite Francesco Bagnaia.

Nursing a cut on his left thumb after a bizarre mishap in the shower on Saturday night, championship leader Martin pulled off a stunning 1m27.748s effort in the 15-minute pole shootout to deny the top spot to last year’s double Red Bull Ring winner Bagnaia.

Martin’s closest title rival Bagnaia was on the pace right away in qualifying, posting a time of 1m28.605s on his first flyer before lowering his own benchmark from Friday with a stellar 1m.28.142s lap on the GP24.

That put him a tenth of a second clear of championship leader and Martin after the first runs, with Marc Marquez almost a quarter of second adrift in third on the year-old Ducati.

However, the tide shifted between the two when the field returned on track for their second runs in the final six minutes of the session, aided by Bagnaia losing a lap after running wide at Turn 1.

Martin had no trouble whatsoever and became the first-ever rider to breach the 1m28s barrier on a MotoGP bike at the circuit, with Bagnaia unable to match him on his one and only flying lap on his second run.

That put the Spaniard on pole position by 0.141s, while six-time champion Marquez carried the pace he showed in Friday practice to clinch a solid third on the Gresini Ducati.

Marquez dropped Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro outside the front row with his late effort of 1m28.292s, as the latter’s team-mate Maverick Vinales qualified sixth in a strong showing from the Noale factory.

Separating the two Aprilia riders in fifth was Jack Miller on the top KTM, the Australian landing a spot on the second row with a 1m28.546s after coming through Q1.

British Grand Prix winner Enea Bastianini had a relatively low-key session en route to seventh on the factory Ducati, just beating the similar GP24 bike of Pramac rider Franco Morbidelli.

Marco Bezzecchi qualified ninth on the VR46, while KTM wildcard Pol Espargaro crashed on a lap that seemed good enough for a top-five, dropping to 10th on the grid.

Alex Marquez was 11th for Gresini, while 2021 winner Brad Binder struggled to 12th on the factory KTM, more than a second off the pace of polesitter Martin.

Trackhouse rider Miguel Oliveira set an identical time to Pol Espargaro in Q1, but was knocked out of the…