2021 Austria Moto2 Qualifying Result: Experience Vs Enthusiasm

The intermediate class had much hotter conditions to contend with than in practice and that seemed to make a difference on the timesheets for qualifying. For a long while it looked like we would be celebrating another rookie pole, but veteran Sam Lowes had different plans and secured a 15th career pole position by six hundredths of a second. The Red Bull KTM Ajo boys who usually dominate proceedings on Saturday afternoon made a slower start but Raul Fernandez climbed up to second in the closing stages of Q2, demoting the early leader of the session, Ai Ogura, to the back of the front row.

Augusto Fernandez got pushed off the first row by his namesake and will open row two ahead of Remy Gardner, who uncharacteristically ended the session with a small crash at turn 1. Aron Canet in sixth place was three tents of a second off pole, while Somkiat Chantra, Celestino Vietti and Lorenzo Dalla Porta make up a pretty impressive third row. After a tough first half of the season, Tom Luthi is back into the top ten, opening row four ahead of Marcel Schrotter and Marcos Ramirez.

Although Gardner ended the day in less than ideal fashion, rival Marco Bezzecchi started it pretty poorly too, the Italian down at turn 9 halfway through Q2, which left him stranded down in 16th grid position and sharing sixth row with Q1 leader Stefano Manzi and Nicolò Bulega.

Results: