Red Bull KTM Ajo are racing at home at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, and it was expected that Brad Binder would follow up his domination of Friday with a pole position at the team’s home GP – but it was Leopard Racing’s rookie Joan Mir who took the top spot, with Binder’s fastest lap interrupted in the final corner and the South African then unable to improve. Gresini Racing Moto3 rider Enea Bastianini remained one of the closest challengers to the front and will complete the front row in P3.
Mir, who moves up onto the world stage in 2016 after some incredible performances last year in the FIM CEV Repsol, takes his first pole with his incredible performance in Austria and has looked on much-improved form throughout the weekend at the Red Bull Ring. Despite two run offs in the session, the Spaniard’s fastest effort was enough to hold off the previously unstoppable Binder and set himself up for a good race result on Sunday.
Binder has been the man to beat in Spielberg so far, consistently the first man to break into the next bracket on the timing screens since track action got underway in FP1. The South African currently leads the standings in Moto3™ by a stunning 47 points, and seems to go into the race on Sunday as the favourite despite narrowly missing out on pole position.
Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Moto3) completes the front row in P3, with the Italian starting to show more flashes of his 2015 form and get back into the top echelons of Moto3™, ready to try and challenge for the victory on Sunday.
Big movement at the end of the session came from Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0), who moved himself up into an impressive P4, ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Leopard Racing) – who continues to show a return to form. Francesco Bagnaia (PULL&BEAR Aspar Mahindra Team) was the fastest Mahindra to complete the second row, ahead of Sky Racing Team VR46's Nicolo Bulega, who was demoted a place after having a lap time deleted.
Key championship contender Jorge Navarro (Estrella Galicia 0,0) is the closest man to Binder in the points standings ahead of the Moto3™ race in Austria, and the Spaniard had a more difficult session to qualify in P18. Similarly, Sky Racing Team VR46 rider Romano Fenati – currently third in the title – was only able to get himself into P11 and the two men will be hoping to move up in the race.