Spielberg: Martin Outduels Marquez and Acosta in Pole Thriller

Jorge Martin will start the MotoGP races in Spielberg from pole position.

The "Martinator" beat championship rival Marc Marquez in an extremely thrilling qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring by 15 thousandths of a second. KTM hopeful Pedro Acosta was only 0.071 seconds short of the Aprilia star.

For Martin, it is the 21st pole position of his MotoGP career and a statement in the fight for his second world championship title. In the riders' standings, Marquez and Martin are tied at the top.

Thrilling Qualifying

After the first run in Q2, Acosta was still ahead, but his time of 1:28.328 minutes did not last long.

On his first fast lap in the second run, Martin grabbed the fastest time and ultimately lowered it to 1:27.917 minutes. He was less than two tenths of a second short of his own lap record from the 2024 season.

Marquez and Acosta took a lot of risks to snatch pole position from the 2024 MotoGP title contender, but ultimately had to narrowly concede defeat.

Acosta said: "I am very happy; normally we have big problems in qualifying."

Other KTMs Outside the Top Ten

The other KTM riders will start outside the top ten.

Brad Binder will take the eleventh starting position. Tech3 riders Pol Espargaro and Enea Bastianini missed out on Q2 and will start the sprint and main race from 14th and 17th respectively.

On Saturday afternoon, the sprint for the Austrian Grand Prix starts at 3 PM, with the main race on Sunday taking place from 2 PM.