After two deleted lap times, Pedro Acosta took his third pole position of the year around the Red Bull Ring in Austria. He is joined on the front row with Ai Ogura and Celestino Vietti.
The first round of qualifying got underway, and all the riders came out of the pits, trying to set a time to get themselves into the top four to try and qualify in the top 18. The top four stayed relatively consistent throughout the session and Sergio Garcia ended the session at the top.
Garcia was joined by Lukas Tulovic, Dennis Foggia and Darryn Binder who all made it through to the second round of qualifying.
All riders except Ogura and Tulovic went out as soon as the second session started to try and take advantage of the track being sightly empty. Jake Dixon placed himself in a good spot behind Somkiat Chantra, who really enjoys riding around this circuit, for his first run.
A brief yellow flag came out when Acosta crashed at the chicane, but he and his bike were both okay, meaning that he could continue touring the circuit. The Spaniard started to turn up the intensity by setting the fastest second and third sectors before pitting to let his team check his bike.
The first representative lap time was set by Vietti and it was a 1:34.698, which was slower than lap times set in the morning practice session due to the increase in the track temperature.
Aron Canet also crashed at the chicane but was also able to continue.
On his final flying lap of the first part of the session, Vietti was able to improve on his own time by two tenths, solidifying his position at the top of the pile.
At the halfway point, all the riders came into the pits to discuss changes with their bikes and ensure that they knew the run plan for the second half of the session.
The riders started to come out of the pits, but Ogura had left the pits early and was able to set the fastest time of the session. But he would not be holding on to the top spot for long as Acosta came out of the pits with a point to prove after his earlier crash.
His first flying lap contained three of the fastest sectors of the session and he jumped to the top of the pile setting a 1:34.040 with just two minutes to go.
With less than a minute to go, Sam Lowes crashed at turn ten bringing out a yellow flag which caused various lap times to be deleted including one for Acosta which was down into the 1:33’s.
Alonso Lopez crashed at turn one bringing out a yellow flag but most riders had already set their fastest time, meaning that it did not impact anyone significantly.
Acosta, Ogura and Vietti will start the race from the front row and Dixon, Chantra and Fermin Aldeguer will be on the second row of the grid. The third row of the grid is populated with Tony Arbolino, who needs to score some points to ensure that Acosta does not begin to get out of touch in the championship, Albert Arenas and Manuel Gonzales. Canet rounds out the top ten.
Feature image credit: KTM/Rob Gray (Polarity Photo)
| 2023 AUSTRIAN MOTO2 GRAND PRIX, RED BULL RING – QUALIFYING RESULTS | |||||
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TEAM | BIKE | TIME |
| 1 | Pedro Acosta | SPA | Red Bull KTM Ajo | (Kalex) | 1m 34.040s |
| 2 | Ai Ogura | JPN | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | (Kalex) | 1m 34.311s |
| 3 | Celestino Vietti | ITA | Fantic Racing | (Kalex) | 1m 34.445s |
| 4 | Jake Dixon | GBR | Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team | (Kalex) | 1m 34.532s |
| 5 | Somkiat Chantra | THA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | (Kalex) | 1m 34.590s |
| 6 | Fermín Aldeguer | SPA | CAG SpeedUp | (Boscoscuro) | 1m 34.639s |
| 7 | Tony Arbolino | ITA | Elf Marc VDS Racing Team | (Kalex) | 1m 34.728s |
| 8 | Albert Arenas | SPA | Red Bull KTM Ajo | (Kalex) | 1m 34.737s |
| 9 | Manuel Gonzalez | SPA | Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 | (Kalex) | 1m 34.857s |
| 10 | Aron Canet | SPA | Pons Wegow Los40 | (Kalex) | 1m 34.859s |
| 11 | Alonso Lopez | SPA | CAG SpeedUp | (Boscoscuro) | 1m 35.045s |
| 12 | Filip Salac | CZE | QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 | (Kalex) | 1m 35.048s |
| 13 | Zonta Vd Goorbergh | NED | Fieten Olie Racing GP | (Kalex) | 1m 35.082s |
| 14 | Sam Lowes | GBR | Elf Marc VDS Racing Team | (Kalex) | 1m 35.197s |
| 15 | Darryn Binder | RSA | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP | (Kalex) | 1m 35.209s |
| 16 | Sergio Garcia | SPA | Pons Wegow Los40 | (Kalex) | 1m 35.311s |
| 17 | Dennis Foggia | ITA | Italtrans Racing Team | (Kalex) | 1m 35.605s |
| 18 | Lukas Tulovic | GER | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP | (Kalex) | 1m 35.676s |
| 19 | Izan Guevara | SPA | Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team | (Kalex) | 1m 35.222s |
| 20 | Bo Bendsneyder | NED | Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team | (Kalex) | 1m 35.289s |
| 21 | Joe Roberts | USA | Italtrans Racing Team | (Kalex) | 1m 35.304s |
| 22 | Borja Gomez | SPA | Fantic Racing | (Kalex) | 1m 35.316s |
| 23 | Marcos Ramirez | SPA | OnlyFans American Racing | (Kalex) | 1m 35.349s |
| 24 | Rory Skinner | GBR | OnlyFans American Racing | (Kalex) | 1m 35.380s |
| 25 | Jeremy Alcoba | SPA | QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 | (Kalex) | 1m 35.554s |
| 26 | Alberto Surra | ITA | Forward Team | (Forward) | 1m 35.675s |
| 27 | Kohta Nozane | JPN | Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 | (Kalex) | 1m 35.919s |
| 28 | Mattia Rato | ITA | Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team | (Kalex) | 1m 36.125s |