2026 Austrian Moto2 - Qualifying Results

Qualifying for the Moto2 Austrian Grand Prix saw the pace heat up, with a new record needed to secure pole position, with Filip Salac collecting his first pole since 2023 at the Red Bull Ring.

The American Racing rider had shown he had the pace to run at the front after topping Friday Practice and had already flirted with the top of the timesheets in the opening minutes, but had his original fastest lap cancelled, leaving Ivan Ortola leading the way.

• Austrian MotoGP LIVE: Updates from qualifying at the Red Bull Ring

The QJMotor rider was still ahead when Salac put out a lap full of red sectors, clean and solo, to set a new 1’ 32.381s benchmark.

Championship leader Manuel Gonzalez, who was on pole last season in Spielberg before disaster in the race when a stone pierced his radiator leading to a DNF, had dropped to ninth, but bounced back to go second, just 0.121s slower, but crucially ahead of his rivals in the title race aboard the Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP bike.

The Kalex domination was broken up by a superb run from Alex Escrig, who secured the final front row spot with the third best lap on his Klint Forward Racing bike, himself just 0.146s away from pole in another close session for the intermediate class.

Ortola was shuffled back to fourth, with Izan Guevara the best of the Boscoscuro riders again in fifth for Blu Cru Pramac Yamaha.

David Alonso was the quickest of the Aspar riders in sixth, just faster on track than Alonso Lopez in seventh for Gresini.

Barry Baltus was only a thousandth behind Lopez as the finest of margins saw him eighth, the best of the riders to come up from Q1 on his Fantic Racing bike.

Jose Antonio Rueda was the highest qualifying rookie, in ninth for the Red Bull KTM Ajo team at their home round, but the first rider over half a second off the new record lap.

Daniel Holgado completed the top ten in the session on the second Aspar entry.

Tony Arbolino had continued his uptick in from by topping the unfancied damp FP2, with only five bikes on track for much of the session, but was eleventh in Q2 for Fantic.

Polesitter in Misano last time out, Dynavolt’s Senna Agius experienced a massive crash at the start of the session through 2b, so could only watch as his time dropped to 15th.

Official Austrian Moto2 Records:
Fastest race lap: David Alonso (2025) 1’ 33.549s
Best Pole: Manuel Gonzalez (2025) 1’ 32.779s
All time lap record: Manuel Gonzalez (2025) 1’ 32.779s
New all-time lap record: Filip Salac (Practice, Q2) 1’ 32.381s

Q1 - Deniz Oncu leads march to Q2 after late flurry of laps

Another close session saw a rapid amount of changes of the lead at the very end, with Oncu (12th in Q2) coming out on top in the shuffle after successfully following his Elf Marc VDS team-mate Aron Canet for much of the session.

Second placed van den Goorbergh (16th in Q2) also led briefly, as did Lunetta (14th in Q2) in third, with the final progression place going to Baltus, who just held on to his place in the top four as the chequered flag flew.

Alberto Ferrandez had been shuffled back and was still in the hunt when he had a late tumble at turn nine, holding his elbow as he walked away from the heavy crash, leaving his 5th for Blu Cru Yamaha, just missing out, so will hopefully be fir enough to line up in 19th on Sunday.

Canet was also just out in the close session, so will sit in 20th on the grid on the second Marc VDS entry.

Marcos Ramirez continues his wildcard stint with Klint Forward Racing into Spielberg, qualifying 26th.

After earning a front row start ended in chaos at the last race in Misano, QJ Motor rider Angel Piqueras suffered a fracture to his right hand in FP1, so he will miss the Austrian round, with his double long lap penalty for the crash which took out the entire front row at the first corner in Misano carrying over to his next appearance.

The grid will be two riders short with Collin Veijer also out in Austria for the home Red Bull KTM Ajo team, after his crash in the same session left him with a broken collarbone.

Full qualifying results can be found below.

Moto2 Qualifying Results: