2024 Austrian Moto2 Grand Prix, Red Bull Ring - Qualifying Results
Qualifying results from the 2024 Austrian Moto2 Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, with Celestino Vietti on pole as Ai Ogura was ruled out with injury.
Celestino Vietti set the pole lap before a flurry of yellow and red flags, which helped his time stand firm ahead of round eleven, the Moto2 Austrian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was back to his best a a track where he claimed victory in 2023. His best was all down to timing, not the fastest lap of the weekend, the 1m 33.855s best held firm as tyres missed their optimum window for many as yellow and red flags came into play.
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That allowed Vietti, who had a huge fall on Friday, to collect his second front row in three races, both poles - having just missed out in Silverstone, qualifying fourth on his way to a podium finish.
Aron Canet had an eventful session, close and almost battling with Manuel Gonzalez just before the Gresini rider fell at turn two, the Fantic Racing man finally found his own space and got to within 0.058s of the pole lap.
2024 Moto2 Austria - Qualifying Results | ||||
Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
1 | Celestino Vietti | ITA | Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) | 1m 33.855s |
2 | Aron Canet | SPA | Fantic Racing (Kalex) | +0.058s |
3 | Sergio Garcia | SPA | MT Helmets - MSI (Boscoscuro) | +0.137s |
4 | Tony Arbolino | ITA | Elf Marc VDS Racing (Kalex) | +0.238s |
5 | Alonso Lopez | SPA | Sync Speed Up (Boscoscuro) | +0.255s |
6 | Jake Dixon | GBR | CFMoto Inde Aspar Team (Kalex) | +0.300s |
7 | Marcos Ramirez | SPA | OnlyFans American Racing Team (Kalex) | +0.340s |
8 | Somkiat Chantra | THA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) | +0.340s |
9 | Manuel Gonzalez | SPA | QJMOTOR Gresini (Kalex) | +0.380s |
10 | Izan Guevara | SPA | CFMoto Inde Aspar Team (Kalex) | +0.410s |
11 | Joe Roberts | USA | OnlyFans American Racing Team (Kalex) | +0.461s |
12 | Darryn Binder | RSA | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) | +0.468s |
13 | Albert Arenas | SPA | QJMOTOR Gresini (Kalex) | +0.478s |
14 | Deniz Oncu | TUR | Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) | +0.483s |
15 | Zonta van den Goorbergh | NED | RW - Idrofoglia Racing GP (Kalex) | +0.516s |
16 | Filip Salac | CZE | Elf Marc VDS Racing (Kalex) | +0.621s |
17 | Fermin Aldeguer | SPA | Sync Speed Up (Boscoscuro) | +0.737s |
18 | Senna Agius | AUS | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) | +0.835s |
Q1 | ||||
19 | Jeremy Alcoba | SPA | Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team (Kalex) | 1m 34.560s |
20 | Bo Bendsneyder | NED | Preicanos Racing Team (Kalex) | 1m 34.647s |
21 | Jaume Masia | SPA | Preicanos Racing Team (Kalex) | 1m34.681s |
22 | Mattia Pasini | ITA | Team Ciatti Boscoscuro (Boscoscuro) | 1m 34.713s |
23 | Barry Baltus | BEL | RW - Idrofoglia Racing GP (Kalex) | 1m 34.940s |
24 | Mario Aji | INA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) | 1m34.979s |
25 | Alex Escrig | SPA | KLINT Forward Factory Team (Forward) | 1m 35.053s |
26 | Ayumu Sasaki | JPN | Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team (Kalex) | 1m 35.134s |
27 | Dennis Foggia | ITA | Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) | 1m 35.199s |
28 | Xavier Artigas | SPA | KLINT Forward Factory Team (Forward) | 1m 35.348s |
29 | Jorge Navarro | SPA | KLINT Forward Factory Team (Forward) | 1m35.356s |
30 | Xavi Cardelus | AND | Fantic Racing (Kalex) | 1m 35.377s |
31 | Diogo Moreira | BRA | Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) | 1m 36.145s |
32 | Ai Ogura | JPN | MT Helmets - MSI (Boscoscuro) | DNS |
The final front row spot went to championship leader, Sergio Garcia.
The MT Helmets - MSI rider was the top Boscoscuro - starting slowly and building into the weekend, with his third place time in his pocket he pushed and was on the limit out of line and wobbling wildly as he failed to improve.
After Ai Ogura was in charge on day one, it was teammate Garcia who put a lacklustre opening day behind him to improve in P2 to arrive with the best time, a new lap record of 1m 33.451s.
Tony Arbolino was also heading in the right direction. Having instead featured near the top of the timesheets in practice the Elf Marc VDS rider found further gains for fourth on qualifying.
Alonso Lopez saw his early time keep fifth in a session where late progress was hard to come by for Sync Speed Up, their best qualifier.
Jake Dixon lines up sixth for CFMoto Inde Aspar, the British rider won his home round having lined up just one place higher on the grid.
Marcos Ramirez and his American Racing teammate Joe Roberts completed the most laps in the session with ten, both set their bests on lap seven, earning Ramirez seventh.
Somkiat Chantra slipped back from his Friday form slightly to finish the session in eight for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia.
Gonzalez had done enough to set a time that held on for ninth before his fall, which brought out the red flag briefly and sent him to the medical centre for further checks.
Izan Guevara continued his upturn over recent rounds to complete the top ten for Aspar.
Joe Roberts was up against it emotionally, with Ogura announced in the MotoGP seat he had been talked up for, but knuckled down to turn around his 21st place on Friday. The American placed seventh in the morning to go straight to Q2, where he went on to claim eleventh.
Albert Arenas was the best of the Q1 graduates for Gresini in 13th but was one of several fallers in the session.
Fermin Aldeguer again struggled and could do no more than enough for 17th. Moto2 is a close class, so that meant he was just 0.737s off the pole lap, giving hope he can make up the difference in race trim for Speed Up.
Q1- lap cancellations change progression places
Zonta van den Goorbergh moved from seventh to first in the final two minutes of the session to lock in the top time. He looked set to be joined by Aldeguer, Albert Arenas (13th) and Dennis Foggia
Lap cancellations were rapid and plentiful across the support classes and Foggia had his last effort removed for exceeding track limits after the close of the session, seeing Senna Agius take over the fourth and final Q2 slot.
Foggia dropped back all the way to 13th in the session, for 27th on the grid. While Jeremy Alcoba was the rider just missing out in fifth, so will line up 19th.
Crashes, injuries and replacements
Ai Ogura has crashed only once this season, in P2 in the morning. His fall in that session caused a brief red flag to clear the track, but left the Japanese rider -who had been unbeatable on Friday - declared unfit to continue, with a fracture to his right hand.
That same session saw several riders riding slowly on the racing line at turn nine towards the close, while Canet was on a fast lap. Tony Arbolino is so far the only rider to receive a penalty for the incident, with a three place grid penalty to be added to his qualifying performance.
The Gresini duo were joined in the gravel by Darryn Binder(12th) van den Goorbergh (15th) and Agius (18th) in Q2. Barry Baltus (23rd) was a Q1 faller.
There are two wildcard rides in Styria, Mattia Pasini returned for 22nd with Jorge Navarro also back at Forward Racing, in 29th.