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MotoGP Austrian GP: Martin leads Morbidelli in FP1 as Acosta suffers heavy crash

Jorge Martin led a 1-2 for Pramac in the opening practice for the MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix after a late red flag caused by Pedro Acosta's crash.

Having suffered a relatively low-speed fall at the chicane just minutes before, Tech3 rider Acosta suffered another incident in the closing stages of the session, losing control of his GasGas-branded KTM at high-speed on the run down to Turn 4.

Although the Spaniard was able to walk away unscathed from the incident, his bike heavily smashed the barriers before bouncing back on track, spewing debris on the racing line and prompting race control to deploy the red flag.

The session resumed after a short break with under 3m30s left on the clock, but no rider at the front was able to improve their lap time, leaving Martin at the top of the order ahead of team-mate Franco Morbidelli.

Championship leader Martin had gone quickest just seconds before the red flag was deployed for Acosta’s crash, a 1m29.654s putting him two tenths clear of long-time pacesetter Morbidelli and eventually securing him the top spot.

KTM riders set the early pace in practice, with Acosta laying the initial marker with a 1m30.876s before factory rider Brad Binder streaked clear with a 1m30.236s.

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 crash (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

KTM wildcard Pol Espargaro then broke the 1m30s barrier to move the goalposts, lapping the Austrian circuit in 1m29.933s on an experimental version of the RC16.

With 15 minutes completed, Morbidelli ended KTM’s stranglehold on the top spot in the timesheets, courtesy of a 1m29.872s effort on his Ducati GP24.

The Italian’s time remained unbeaten until the five minutes of the session when Martin put on a set of soft tyres, with the red flag preventing any further improvements.

Behind the Pramac duo, Espargaro finished third for KTM based on his early-session pace, with Francesco Bagnaia taking fourth on the factory Ducati.

Binder took fifth spot, while Acosta was able to keep sixth place despite his late shunt.

Maverick Vinales led Aprilia in seventh place on a day his team-mate Aleix Espargaro suffered two crashes in the space of 15 minutes, both at the tricky Turn 2 chicane that caught out a number of riders.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Eighth place went to the VR46 of Fabio Di Giannantonio, while Joan Mir was a surprise ninth on his Honda ahead of the Gresini of Alex Marquez.

His team-mate and elder brother Marc Marquez lost his best lap due to track limits and was classified 18th.

The top Yamaha rider was the returning Alex Rins in 13th with a best effort of 1m30.482s, one spot clear of team-mate and 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo.

MotoGP Austrian GP - FP1 results

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 20

1'29.654

  173.707  
2 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 19

+0.218

1'29.872

0.218 173.286  
3 Spain P. Espargaro Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 44 KTM 18

+0.290

1'29.944

0.072 173.147  
4 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 18

+0.310

1'29.964

0.020 173.109  
5 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 21

+0.582

1'30.236

0.272 172.587  
6 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 16

+0.629

1'30.283

0.047 172.497  
7 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 21

+0.646

1'30.300

0.017 172.465  
8 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 20

+0.685

1'30.339

0.039 172.390  
9 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 16

+0.734

1'30.388

0.049 172.297  
10 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 20

+0.746

1'30.400

0.012 172.274  
11 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 21

+0.782

1'30.436

0.036 172.205  
12 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 20

+0.826

1'30.480

0.044 172.122  
13 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 19

+0.828

1'30.482

0.002 172.118  
14 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 18

+0.898

1'30.552

0.070 171.985  
15 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 19

+0.930

1'30.584

0.032 171.924  
16 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 22

+0.973

1'30.627

0.043 171.842  
17 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 19

+1.156

1'30.810

0.183 171.496  
18 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 21

 

     
19 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 20

+1.185

1'30.839

0.029 171.441  
20 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 20

+1.299

1'30.953

0.114 171.226  
21 Italy L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team 32 Aprilia 18

+1.331

1'30.985

0.032 171.166  
22 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 26

+1.376

1'31.030

0.045 171.082  
23 Portugal M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team 88 Aprilia 19

+1.386

1'31.040

0.010 171.063  
24 Germany S. Bradl HRC Test Team 6 Honda 20

+1.880

1'31.534

0.494 170.140  
25 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 14

 

     
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