Martin overcomes shower injury to take Austria MotoGP pole
Jorge Martin overcame a shower fall-induced finger injury to take pole position for MotoGP's Austrian Grand Prix with a monster lap.
The championship leader suffered a painful cut, with his Pramac rider coach Fonsi Nieto explaining Martin had ended up slashing his thumb on a piece of aluminium in the wall after a post-shower stumble last night.
Martin looked in clear discomfort in pre-qualifying practice, with MotoGP medical chief Angel Charte attending to him in the pit garage.
"It was a difficult morning. I thought it was going to be better but this morning it was really painful. They stitched me [up] and at least I could ride," said Martin.
Pole☝????! Para tod@s aquell@s que me preguntáis, ayer en mi habitación me hice un corte en el dedo y hoy me he despertado peor de lo que me esperaba. Gracias a todo el equipo médico ???? ¡Daremos nuestro 100% en carrera! ???? #AustrianGP???????? pic.twitter.com/XTVKKvZnQ7
— Jorge Martín Almoguera (@88jorgemartin) August 17, 2024"While riding it's not a big problem. I was able to work well in the morning, even if it's obviously disturbing me a bit."
Yet come qualifying Martin soared, despite title rival Pecco Bagnaia having made a stronger start to Q2.
A new lap record from Bagnaia on the first runs put him a tenth of a second clear of Martin, but the first lap after a change of tyres got away from Bagnaia immediately at Turn 1.
Martin, meanwhile, was able to lower his benchmark by over half a second, pumping in a 1m27.748s, and though an improvement followed on Bagnaia's side, too, it was 0.141s short.
Nobody else was in the duo's league, with Gresini Ducati's Marc Marquez narrowly beating Aleix Espargaro's Aprilia to the final spot on the front row.
Jack Miller was the lead KTM in fifth after having topped Q1, while Maverick Vinales made it two works Aprilias on the second row.
A late chance for Enea Bastianini to move up higher than seventh was thwarted by yellow flags - seemingly for Ducati team-mate Bagnaia running out of fuel - while Franco Morbidelli should've been higher than eighth but for a huge moment at Turn 9 putting paid to what had looked like his best lap.
Marco Bezzecchi was ninth as the sole VR46 Ducati representative, with team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio absent after crashing on Friday.
Di Giannantonio dislocated his shoulder in the fall, and - though unfit to continue with this weekend - is certain he will be back on the bike next time out at Aragon.
The top 10 was completed by KTM wildcard Pol Espargaro - who fought his way through Q1 but was then despondent to ruin his Q2 with a slow crash at Turn 3.
Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Brad Binder (KTM) rounded out a Q2 order covered by 1.162s.
Trackhouse Aprilia rider Miguel Oliveira made a valiant effort to get himself involved in what was expected to be an all-KTM fight for two Q2 places in Q1.
The Portuguese beat team-mate Raul Fernandez by eight tenths in Q1, in what is the second weekend since Fernandez was moved over from a 2023-spec Aprilia to the current-spec RS-GP all the others are running.
Oliveira would've advanced to Q2, too, had his best lap been even 0.001s quicker - but having matched Pol Espargaro's best time, he lost out by virtue of having a worse second-fastest lap.
On the heels of a three-crash Friday, rookie Pedro Acosta suffered his first Q1 exit of his MotoGP career by just a quarter of a tenth.
Oliveira and Acosta will be joined on the fifth row by Fabio Quartararo, leading the way for MotoGP's Japanese bike contingent but four tenths off a Q2 spot.
Johann Zarco was the lead Honda in 17th, a tenth back from Quartararo - with the fifth KTM RC16 of Augusto Fernandez sandwiched between them.
