Johann Zarco tops Friday practice in Austria

MotoGP 2021 – Round 11 – Red Bull Ring
Bitci Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich Spielberg

Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) is the new fastest ever MotoGP rider at the Red Bull Ring. The Frenchman’s 1:22.827 set in FP1 is a new all-time lap record and one serious benchmark after a tougher Styrian GP, leaving him eight tenths clear after Day 1 of the Bitci Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich. Reigning Champion and Styrian GP podium finisher Joan Mir was second, just ahead of his Team Suzuki Ecstar teammate Alex Rins.

MotoGP Rider Quotes

Johann Zarco – P1

“I am satisfied with today’s work. Being on this track often has helped me understand many things; we have taken a giant step forward.”

Joan Mir – P2

“We had a few problems with braking in both sessions, in the morning I couldn’t get a very good lap time, especially on time attack, but I got up there after using the soft tyres. So I actually still have a lot of margin to improve, we need to make a few adjustments to make everything more comfortable. This weekend every rider will be faster, so it will be more of a challenge on Sunday, but we’ll try to give our all and if we can fix the little things I feel pretty confident.”

Alex Rins – P3

“Today was good for us, we ‘risked’ putting soft tyres on the bike in the last moments of FP1 because my crew saw the rain on radar images and we thought it was better to get a time in early. I’ve been riding well today, both in the dry and the wet, and I have a good feeling. We’ve managed to work on the brake problem that I had last weekend and it seems better. It’s nice to continue using the ride height device because I’m getting more used to it every time I use it. I’m aiming for a good FP3 tomorrow morning and we’ll take it from there.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P4

“P4 is a good result and we had a good feeling on the bike which is the most important thing. In FP2, same as last weekend, we had rainy conditions, but we had a much better feeling than last weekend. We need to improve some areas in wet conditions, but in the dry conditions we are going well and are really looking forward to qualifying. The most important session will be FP3, we need to stay in the top 10 and be ready for the qualifying session.”

Aleix Espargaro – P5

“I’m satisfied with the way we began this weekend. This morning, despite having lost a few minutes, I was still able to find a good pace. I’m particularly pleased with the level we demonstrated in the wet, which is a situation where I wasn’t so incisive last week. We also made some changes to the balance of the RS-GP and I must say that the feeling is very good on damp asphalt too. Tomorrow it will be essential to work well on qualifying; overtaking is no simple thing for us here, so a spot on the front two rows would be ideal to aim for an important race result.”

Fabio Quartararo – P6

“This morning was great! My pace was good, and the front tyre wasn’t even the one that I like. So, I’m curious to see tomorrow what that will be like. I think that we need to make a bigger step in the wet, because I have no feeling and this is something we need to improve. In FP1 I missed a gear and it felt like the engine was going down. I decided to stop to look at the dashboard, but everything was okay. It was just a mistake of mine. Some of our main rivals are fast, but I know I’m also super fast in qualifying, so I will go for it. I think we need to try!”

Álex Márquez – P7

“First day of the second GP here in Austria and I felt great from the beginning. In the morning, in the dry we started with a good shape, were feeling great and so took the chance to put on a new medium tyre as we saw on the forecast that there was a chance of rain in the afternoon. It was a perfect plan from the team and for the tyre choice. In the afternoon, we had the chance to test the hard front tyre, but also some different set-ups we had in the plan. We still have tomorrow and we need to be fast again from the beginning. I’m happy with the day and motivated for tomorrow. FP3 will be important to be directly in Q2 as qualifying is always tough here. So we’ll try our best from the morning.”

Francesco Bagnaia – P8

“Despite the position, these were two really positive sessions. This morning, we were fast, finishing in the top ten without a time attack and on very used tyres, which bodes well for the race. In FP2 this afternoon, I only lapped when the track was completely wet, and even then, my pace was good. When the asphalt started to dry, I preferred to stop and not use more wet tyres. I’m satisfied and optimistic about tomorrow’s qualifying session”.

Marc Marquez – P9

“Today’s plan was to work through some things for HRC before tomorrow when we focus on being faster. I am still struggling a little in the hard braking, but there are many riders struggling a bit with it here. The wet practice helped us a lot, both with my physical condition and showing my speed. It has been a decent first day but we will have to see what happens tomorrow.”

Jorge Martín – P10

“I am very confident. My race pace is good, and we continue improving. I have reached a good level of confidence with the bike; tomorrow hope to replicate last week’s qualifier.”

Pol Espargaro – P11

“Overall I think it was a good day. In the dry we were able to improve a little and we made progress with the used tyres because we didn’t change it in the morning. In the afternoon we did our best lap in the wet and we were fast, in second. We dropped down when people did some final laps on a drier track but I was fast in the wet. In the wet we are fast and in the dry we are looking better, I’m satisfied.”

Enea Bastianini – P12

“It was a bit of a strange day as we didn’t expect rain today. This morning we started with the right foot and immediately set a good time. I made some changes to the front of the bike, but the problems didn’t go away, so we’ll keep working on it tomorrow. With the wet track the lap times weren’t quite good and we’re limited on medium wet tyres. Anyway, I did some laps to see how the bike was behaving and to understand what the potential is. We are ready for tomorrow.”

Luca Marini – P13

“We have been working on the bike during FP1 and we found some improvements that will help us for tomorrow. It was a pity that it rained in FP2, because we are a bit limited on the medium wet tyres. We’ll see how FP3 goes, it will be a key session, we have three softs to use and then three time attacks to get a competitive time.”

Valentino Rossi – P14

“This morning, in FP1, it wasn’t too bad because I was able to greatly improve the performance and lap time from the first weekend here. Also the position was okay too but, as always with a second GP at the same circuit, everyone is very strong. The track was fast this morning and we were able to work on our race pace. This afternoon the conditions in FP2 were very specific, as it rained a lot but it stayed very hot and the dry line appeared after only 20 minutes. We are not so bad on the full wet, but we suffer a lot with the feeling in mixed conditions and we don’t have enough traction. We hope that Sunday will be completely dry or wet, not a mix.”

Jack Miller – P17

“Looking at the timesheet, it doesn’t seem to have been a positive day; actually, I’m pretty satisfied. This morning we had some small issues, and I’ve been working on the idea that I could set my best time during the afternoon session. Unfortunately, the track conditions didn’t allow me that, so I will try to improve tomorrow morning in FP3. I’m confident because I know what we need to do to be fast, and in the wet this afternoon, we showed a good pace, so all in all, it was a good day”.

Danilo Petrucci – P18

“This morning we tried something that was working good in terms of setup. We obviously still have to reduce the wheelie out of the corners in order to try to be as fast as possible on the straight. For sure, the first four corners are the trickiest for us, but I felt quite ok. Hopefully, we can improve our lap time tomorrow, especially compared to last week and try to be as close as possible to the front.”

 Iker Lecuona – P19

“In the morning, I was struggling a bit with the grip. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t improve my lap time, so we need to work on this. But when the thunderstorm arrived this afternoon, I spoke with my team and we decided to do a race simulation as the race on Sunday could happen in these conditions. So, I went out with the wet tyres, I felt very good like always and was very fast. Then I did a flag to flag to start to feel the track with the slicks and maybe work out a limit for Sunday. I felt good and managed to improve. Thank you to my guys for their great work! Tomorrow we’ll keep that way.”

Cal Crutchlow – P20

“Last week we had an issue with rear grip in the race and we think we might have found the reason why, but it became our main focus today. It’s good that we understand it a bit more and it means we can continue our programme now, to hopefully find more speed in both wet and dry conditions. I feel confident that I can though. Obviously going from testing where you have all day to two 45-minute sessions is difficult, especially with this afternoon being wet. I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend and let’s see what we can achieve.”

MotoGP FP1 Report

Zarco absolutely blasted out the blocks in FP1, the Frenchman already fastest before slamming in that new lap record to go eight tenths clear of the field in the final couple of minutes, over three tenths quicker than his previous best as he pushed early for a fast lap. The field in this case meant Mir, the number 36 adding that the position is good but they nevertheless need to work on braking, with Rins finding some better form to end the session just a tenth off his teammate.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) was fourth in FP1, leading the mid-part of the session for some time and maintaining his status as top Honda in Austria, with Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) enjoying a solid start in fifth.

The only drama was a technical problem for Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) at Turn 9 at the end of the session, the Frenchman putting his hand up and pulling off.

MotoGP FP2 Report

The rain came down in a big way just before the end of Moto3 FP2, and that left the premier class with a very wet Red Bull Ring for their FP2 too. Consequently, no one improved but one person did set an incredible benchmark: Iker Lecuona (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing). The Spaniard ended the session a whopping 3.397 seconds clear after putting slicks in for a final charge, the only rider to push near the end of the session as the track dried.

Lecuona reigned in the rain early on too, before Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) took over on top mid-session for some time. But the number 27 KTM hit back with his run on slicks, only competing with himself for P1.

Zarco was second in the session behind Lecuona, with Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) a few tenths further back in third. Marc Marquez ended up fourth after leading part way through, with Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) completing the top five.

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) suffered a run off at Turn 4, and Joan Mir headed wide at Turn 10… as Marc Marquez got a little close for comfort up the inside.

MotoGP Friday Combined

FP1 is the same as the combined times given change in the weather, with Zarco retaining his eight tenths of advantage into Saturday. Mir is second ahead of Rins, with Nakagami the last man within a second. Aleix Espargaro completes the top five.

Quartararo was sixth, ahead of more good Spielberg speed from Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) in seventh. Bagnaia was the second Borgo Panigale machine in P8, with Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and Styrian GP winner Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) round out a top ten split by 1.217. Which would sound a lot, except Zarco’s laptime is such that Mir in second to Martin in tenth is covered by only 0.419, and Zarco has the rest of that gap to himself.

With the weather forecast for Saturday making for interesting reading, that top ten could leave a few usual suspects looking for a way into Q2. They include both Red Bull KTM Factory Racing riders Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder, who ended the day in P15 and P16, respectively, as well as Jack Miller just behind them in 17th.

MotoGP Combined Times

2021 MotoGP Championship Points

Moto2

Remember who set the fastest lap in Moto2 last weekend? It was Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and the Japanese rider’s speed had gone nowhere as we got back in business at the Red Bull Ring. He tops Friday by mere thousandths though, with Styrian GP podium finisher within 0.007 on Day 1 of the Bitci Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich. After an FP1 somewhat down the order, Championship leader Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completed the top three with an afternoon improvement.

Moto2 Combined Times

Moto2 Championship Points

Moto3

Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing) is the man to beat after Day 1 of the Bitci Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich, ending both sessions fastest and with a tenth in hand over Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) by the end of play. Championship leader and Styrian GP winner Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) locked out the top three, just 0.013 in further arrears.

Moto3 Combined Times

Moto3 Championship Points

MotoE

Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) topped the timesheets on Day 1 for the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup in Austria, the Swiss rider taking over on top late on as he looks to hit back in the standings following a crash in Assen. Rookie Fermin Aldeguer (Openbank Aspar Team) was deposed by just 0.010, with Eric Granado (ONE Energy Racing) third on Friday.

MotoE Combined Times

MotoE Championship Points

2021

Bitci Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich Schedule (AEST)

2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship calendar

(Subject to change)