Jorge Martin takes Austrian MotoGP pole by 0.015 seconds over Marc Marquez

Martin edges Marquez for Red Bull Ring pole

Jorge Martin secured pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg, beating title rival Marc Marquez by 0.015 seconds on Saturday morning. The Aprilia rider achieved his third pole position of the season during a closely contested qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring. Pedro Acosta qualified third to complete an all-Spanish front row for Sunday's main race. Martin made progressive adjustments from Friday's practice runs to claim the top grid slot. Speaking to TNT Sports after the session, Martin stated that he was pushing hard throughout his qualifying attempts.

I felt quite OK during the weekend, we did small steps from yesterday to today. We are prepared for the race now.

Championship contenders share the front row

Martin and Marc Marquez enter the weekend tied on 274 points at the top of the riders' championship standings. Marquez holds the championship tiebreaker having won more races across the campaign, taking victory in five of the last seven grands prix. Despite admitting that Martin was faster over a single flying lap, the factory Ducati rider noted after qualifying that securing a front-row start was his primary objective for Saturday.

He was faster. The front row was the main target today.

Behind the top two championship rivals, Marco Bezzecchi qualified in fourth place on his Aprilia. Bezzecchi enters the race weekend third in the overall standings, 33 points adrift of Martin and Marquez. Japanese rider Ai Ogura placed his Aprilia Trackhouse bike in fifth position, while Alex Marquez took sixth on the grid for Ducati-Gresini despite suffering a crash in the closing minutes of Qualifying 2.

Acosta leads KTM home assault after strong practice

Pedro Acosta completed the front row in third after setting the pace throughout Friday's running at KTM's home circuit. The 22-year-old Spanish rider topped both practice sessions on Friday under dry track conditions in Styria, gathering confidence for the competitive sessions ahead. Acosta is targeting the first MotoGP victory of his career at the Austrian track before departing the KTM squad to partner Marc Marquez at the factory Ducati team next season.

Pre-qualifying standings and weekend schedule

Acosta topped Friday's pre-qualifying timesheet with a session-best lap of 1 minute 28.381 seconds. Fermin Aldeguer took second for Ducati-Gresini in 1 minute 28.880 seconds, followed by Ogura in third with 1 minute 28.893 seconds. Marquez finished fourth with 1 minute 28.963 seconds, while Martin placed fifth in 1 minute 29.048 seconds. Direct entry into Qualifying 2 was also secured by Fabio Di Giannantonio (1:29.091), Brad Binder (1:29.126), Alex Marquez (1:29.161), Bezzecchi (1:29.210), and Fabio Quartararo (1:29.266). Luca Marini was the first rider eliminated from direct entry, finishing 11th with a time of 1 minute 29.293 seconds. Francesco Bagnaia placed 18th in 1 minute 29.666 seconds and Raul Fernandez took 19th in 1 minute 29.721 seconds, sending both to Qualifying 1. The weekend schedule continues with the Saturday sprint race at 15:00, followed by the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday at 14:00.