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Yamaha Suspends Maverick Viñales For Austrian GP For "Irregular Operation" - But What Exactly Did He Do?
Yamaha has suspended Maverick Viñales from participating in this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. In a press release issued today, the Monster Energy Yamaha said Viñales had been suspended for "the unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle by the rider during last weekend's Styria MotoGP race".
According to Yamaha, this behavior was visible in the data logged by the Yamaha M1, and that data forced Yamaha to draw the conclusion that "the rider‘s actions could have potentially caused significant damage to the engine of his YZR-M1 bike which could have caused serious risks to the rider himself and possibly posed a danger to all other riders in the MotoGP race".
Yamaha Suspends Maverick Viñales For Austrian GP For "Irregular Operation" - But What Exactly Did He Do?
Yamaha has suspended Maverick Viñales from participating in this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. In a press release issued today, the Monster Energy Yamaha said Viñales had been suspended for "the unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle by the rider during last weekend's Styria MotoGP race".
According to Yamaha, this behavior was visible in the data logged by the Yamaha M1, and that data forced Yamaha to draw the conclusion that "the rider‘s actions could have potentially caused significant damage to the engine of his YZR-M1 bike which could have caused serious risks to the rider himself and possibly posed a danger to all other riders in the MotoGP race".
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Styria Moto2 & Moto3 Review: Neil Morrison On Bezzecchi's Return, Gardner's Woes, Ogura's Rise, And KTM Distractions
As ever Moto2 and Moto3 threw up a plenty of intrigue at the Styrian Grand Prix with one name putting his name back in the championship fight, while another cemented his place at the top. Here, we dive into some of the more pressing matters in both classes.
Bezz is back
It’s still a stretch. But Marco Bezzecchi put himself back into championship contention with his first win of the season on Sunday. The 22-year old shrugged off speculation surrounding his future by producing his strongest weekend for some time. This has always been a strong track for Bezzecchi’s braking abilities, with the Italian scoring wins here in 2018 (Moto3) and 2020 (Moto2). In the race, his speed through Turns 1 and 3 was crucial, and key to him recovering from a shaky early spell to reel in, then pounce on, Remy Gardner.
For much of this season, Bezzecchi has either struggled to qualify well, or manage tyre wear to live with the Red Bull Ajo team-mates. But he overcame both here, backing up his searing free practice pace by qualifying third on Saturday. Then, as he dropped from first to third in the early laps, he paid careful attention to the riding styles of Gardner and Aron Canet to make his way back to the front.
Styria Moto2 & Moto3 Review: Neil Morrison On Bezzecchi's Return, Gardner's Woes, Ogura's Rise, And KTM Distractions
As ever Moto2 and Moto3 threw up a plenty of intrigue at the Styrian Grand Prix with one name putting his name back in the championship fight, while another cemented his place at the top. Here, we dive into some of the more pressing matters in both classes.
Bezz is back
It’s still a stretch. But Marco Bezzecchi put himself back into championship contention with his first win of the season on Sunday. The 22-year old shrugged off speculation surrounding his future by producing his strongest weekend for some time. This has always been a strong track for Bezzecchi’s braking abilities, with the Italian scoring wins here in 2018 (Moto3) and 2020 (Moto2). In the race, his speed through Turns 1 and 3 was crucial, and key to him recovering from a shaky early spell to reel in, then pounce on, Remy Gardner.
For much of this season, Bezzecchi has either struggled to qualify well, or manage tyre wear to live with the Red Bull Ajo team-mates. But he overcame both here, backing up his searing free practice pace by qualifying third on Saturday. Then, as he dropped from first to third in the early laps, he paid careful attention to the riding styles of Gardner and Aron Canet to make his way back to the front.
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Austria MotoGP Thursday Round Up: Spielberg's Bad Vibes, A stiffer Front Tire, And Closer Second Races
The Red Bull Ring has faced much criticism in the six years since MotoGP started going back there, mostly about the safety of the riders on track. But one thing that gets overlooked is the circuit's propensity for generating drama off track. In 2020, we had Andrea Dovizioso announcing he would not be racing with Ducati again in 2021. In 2019, we had the drama with Johann Zarco splitting with KTM, with additional drama around Jack Miller possibly losing a place to Jorge Lorenzo, who would return to Ducati to take Miller's place at Pramac.
The year before, Yamaha had held a press conference in which management and engineers officially apologized to factory riders Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales for building a dog-slow bike that left them 11th and 14th on the grid. Spielberg was the place where Romano Fenati got into an altercation with the Sky VR46 Moto2 team, and was sacked in 2016.
So much discord and division. Perhaps the circuit is built on a conjunction of ley lines, or perhaps the Spielberg track was built on an ancient cemetery where the contemporaries of Ötzi were buried. Or perhaps the middle of a MotoGP season is when tensions generally reach boiling point. The latter explanation is the most likely, perhaps, though a good deal less entertaining.
Bouncing off the limiter
Austria MotoGP Thursday Round Up: Spielberg's Bad Vibes, A stiffer Front Tire, And Closer Second Races
The Red Bull Ring has faced much criticism in the six years since MotoGP started going back there, mostly about the safety of the riders on track. But one thing that gets overlooked is the circuit's propensity for generating drama off track. In 2020, we had Andrea Dovizioso announcing he would not be racing with Ducati again in 2021. In 2019, we had the drama with Johann Zarco splitting with KTM, with additional drama around Jack Miller possibly losing a place to Jorge Lorenzo, who would return to Ducati to take Miller's place at Pramac.
The year before, Yamaha had held a press conference in which management and engineers officially apologized to factory riders Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales for building a dog-slow bike that left them 11th and 14th on the grid. Spielberg was the place where Romano Fenati got into an altercation with the Sky VR46 Moto2 team, and was sacked in 2016.
So much discord and division. Perhaps the circuit is built on a conjunction of ley lines, or perhaps the Spielberg track was built on an ancient cemetery where the contemporaries of Ötzi were buried. Or perhaps the middle of a MotoGP season is when tensions generally reach boiling point. The latter explanation is the most likely, perhaps, though a good deal less entertaining.
Bouncing off the limiter
MotoMatters.com
2021 Austria Moto3 FP1 Result: Binder In The Limelight
It was a sunny start to the second weekend in Austria and much like the headlines late on Thursday, the Petronas Sprinta team held top spot on the timesheets for a considerable amount of time in FP1. Darryn Binder was the lead protagonist, the South African leading the way early on and then picking it up again at the end of the time attack, to finish one tenth of a second ahead of Romano Fenati. The Italian was one of several KTM and KTM-adjacent riders debuting a carbon rear wheel cover, together with championship leader Pedro Acosta, who finished third in the session.
2021 Austria Moto3 FP1 Result: Binder In The Limelight
It was a sunny start to the second weekend in Austria and much like the headlines late on Thursday, the Petronas Sprinta team held top spot on the timesheets for a considerable amount of time in FP1. Darryn Binder was the lead protagonist, the South African leading the way early on and then picking it up again at the end of the time attack, to finish one tenth of a second ahead of Romano Fenati. The Italian was one of several KTM and KTM-adjacent riders debuting a carbon rear wheel cover, together with championship leader Pedro Acosta, who finished third in the session.
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2021 Austria MotoGP FP1 Result: A Zinger Of A Lap From Zarco
The second round in Austria started with enough headlines to fill a news ticker but track action eventually took centre stage as premier class riders put in a first time attack of the weekend. With the forecast more optimistic than last time around, not too many were tempted by soft rubber in the closing stages of FP1 but Pramac Racing continued to shine, with Johann Zarco taking the all time lap record from his teammate and topping the session by almost eight tenths of a second. That late lap pushed the two Suzukis back, with Joan Mir second and Alex Rins third in the session.
2021 Austria MotoGP FP1 Result: A Zinger Of A Lap From Zarco
The second round in Austria started with enough headlines to fill a news ticker but track action eventually took centre stage as premier class riders put in a first time attack of the weekend. With the forecast more optimistic than last time around, not too many were tempted by soft rubber in the closing stages of FP1 but Pramac Racing continued to shine, with Johann Zarco taking the all time lap record from his teammate and topping the session by almost eight tenths of a second. That late lap pushed the two Suzukis back, with Joan Mir second and Alex Rins third in the session.
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2021 Austria Moto2 FP1 Result: Ogura Climbs To The Top
A nearly spotless sky awaited the intermediate class as they started their second rodeo at the Red Bull Ring and Ai Ogura was out to prove what he couldn’t quite prove last weekend, the rookie taking over top spot for the final ten minutes of the session. Despite some contact with a slow Simone Corsi on his final flying lap, Augusto Fernandez came within a hundredth of a second of top spot and finished ahead of early session leader Marcel Schrotter.
2021 Austria Moto2 FP1 Result: Ogura Climbs To The Top
A nearly spotless sky awaited the intermediate class as they started their second rodeo at the Red Bull Ring and Ai Ogura was out to prove what he couldn’t quite prove last weekend, the rookie taking over top spot for the final ten minutes of the session. Despite some contact with a slow Simone Corsi on his final flying lap, Augusto Fernandez came within a hundredth of a second of top spot and finished ahead of early session leader Marcel Schrotter.
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2021 Styria MotoE FP1 Result: Granado Leads The Way
The MotoE cup joined the circus for a ride around the Red Bull Ring and it was the same familiar names at the forefront, with Eric Granado leading the way by eight hundredths of a second from Matteo Ferrari. Dominique Aegerter joined the top three, with Xavi Cardelus and Fermín Aldeguer completing the top five. Yonny Hernandez, Jordi Torres and Lukas Tulovic also finished within half a second of the leader. Teammates Kevin Zannoni and Miquel Pons rounded out the top 10, with championship leader Alessandro Zaccone down in 11th, eight tenths off top spot.
Results:
2021 Styria MotoE FP1 Result: Granado Leads The Way
The MotoE cup joined the circus for a ride around the Red Bull Ring and it was the same familiar names at the forefront, with Eric Granado leading the way by eight hundredths of a second from Matteo Ferrari. Dominique Aegerter joined the top three, with Xavi Cardelus and Fermín Aldeguer completing the top five. Yonny Hernandez, Jordi Torres and Lukas Tulovic also finished within half a second of the leader. Teammates Kevin Zannoni and Miquel Pons rounded out the top 10, with championship leader Alessandro Zaccone down in 11th, eight tenths off top spot.
Results:
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2021 Austria Moto3 FP2 Result: Binder Rules Before Rain Does
The second practice session for the lightweight class had a surprise in store and rather than any surprises on the timesheets, where FP1 leader Darryn Binder followed it up with another solid session, it came in the shape of rain and hail hitting the tarmac for the final ten minutes. That put a halt to any intentions to dethrone the South African, who remained the quickest man at the end of Friday, half a tenth quicker than championship leader Pedro Acosta. John McPhee kept close to secure third, while Dennis Foggia in fourth was still within a tenth of Binder’s top time.
2021 Austria Moto3 FP2 Result: Binder Rules Before Rain Does
The second practice session for the lightweight class had a surprise in store and rather than any surprises on the timesheets, where FP1 leader Darryn Binder followed it up with another solid session, it came in the shape of rain and hail hitting the tarmac for the final ten minutes. That put a halt to any intentions to dethrone the South African, who remained the quickest man at the end of Friday, half a tenth quicker than championship leader Pedro Acosta. John McPhee kept close to secure third, while Dennis Foggia in fourth was still within a tenth of Binder’s top time.
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2021 Austria MotoGP FP2 Result: A Well Timed Swap To Slicks For Lecuona
Lightning and hail were a very different welcome for the premier class on their second outing of the day, but we still got action throughout the session, with riders putting wet tyres through their paces until bright sunshine returned and started drying the surface. It was no surprise to see Marc Marquez thrive in the changing conditions and lead the way for much of the session, until the racing line got dry enough for slicks and Iker Lecuona made a late switch to jump to the top of the timesheets.
2021 Austria MotoGP FP2 Result: A Well Timed Swap To Slicks For Lecuona
Lightning and hail were a very different welcome for the premier class on their second outing of the day, but we still got action throughout the session, with riders putting wet tyres through their paces until bright sunshine returned and started drying the surface. It was no surprise to see Marc Marquez thrive in the changing conditions and lead the way for much of the session, until the racing line got dry enough for slicks and Iker Lecuona made a late switch to jump to the top of the timesheets.
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2021 Austria Moto2 FP2 Result: Gardner Goes Top On Drying Track
The track continued to dry after the downpour at the end of the Moto3 session, so intermediate class riders were able to start on slicks and find more and more time throughout their session. Few improved enough to go faster than in the morning session but Remy Gardner was one of them, the championship leader taking over top spot after the Fernandez duo squabbled about it early on. FP1 leader Ai Ogura stayed the fastest man overall and jumped ahead late in FP2 to separate the two Red Bull KTM Ajo boys on the timesheets, demoting Raul Fernandez to third.
2021 Austria Moto2 FP2 Result: Gardner Goes Top On Drying Track
The track continued to dry after the downpour at the end of the Moto3 session, so intermediate class riders were able to start on slicks and find more and more time throughout their session. Few improved enough to go faster than in the morning session but Remy Gardner was one of them, the championship leader taking over top spot after the Fernandez duo squabbled about it early on. FP1 leader Ai Ogura stayed the fastest man overall and jumped ahead late in FP2 to separate the two Red Bull KTM Ajo boys on the timesheets, demoting Raul Fernandez to third.
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2021 Austria MotoE FP2 Result: Aegerter Demotes Aldeguer
The final practice session of the day got off to a slow start but the MotoE class quickly got up to speed and went quicker than the morning session. Fermín Aldeguer spent quite a bit of time at the top of the timing screens, until Dominique Aegerter demoted him by one hundredth of a second for the final couple of minutes. FP1 leader Eric Granado climbed into third, two tenths off the lead and narrowly ahead of Matteo Ferrari, while Lukas Tulovic completed the top five.
2021 Austria MotoE FP2 Result: Aegerter Demotes Aldeguer
The final practice session of the day got off to a slow start but the MotoE class quickly got up to speed and went quicker than the morning session. Fermín Aldeguer spent quite a bit of time at the top of the timing screens, until Dominique Aegerter demoted him by one hundredth of a second for the final couple of minutes. FP1 leader Eric Granado climbed into third, two tenths off the lead and narrowly ahead of Matteo Ferrari, while Lukas Tulovic completed the top five.
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Austria MotoGP Friday Round Up: Rain Wrecks Plans, Riding Wet And Dry, Helping Marquez' Shoulder, And The Binder Brothers
We know that the weather in the mountains is changeable, but Friday at the Red Bull Ring took the cake. A bright, sunny morning, with ideal conditions for riding – so ideal that Johann Zarco sliced another tenth of a second off the outright lap record in FP1 – and in the last ten minutes or so of FP2 for the Moto3 class, a few drops of rain, and then lightning, and a hailstorm in 30°C heat. The MotoGP riders went out on a soaking track, but by the time the session finished, it was almost dry.
Iker Lecuona seized his opportunity. The Tech3 KTM rider had been quick enough on wets, but at the end of FP2, he swapped to slicks, and banged in a time nearly 3.4 seconds faster than anyone else had managed. Jack Miller was the only other rider to stick a set of slicks in at the end, though he was not chasing a time, but trying to understand how the medium slicks would work on a track which was still quite wet.
"I just went out on the mediums to understand how they work in quite a lot of water on the track," Miller explained. "Because it's quite stop-start here, you're putting a lot of weight on both the front and the rear tyre, and the medium definitely feels better. So I just wanted to understand how quickly I could get them up to temperature and working, and they worked pretty good."
Austria MotoGP Friday Round Up: Rain Wrecks Plans, Riding Wet And Dry, Helping Marquez' Shoulder, And The Binder Brothers
We know that the weather in the mountains is changeable, but Friday at the Red Bull Ring took the cake. A bright, sunny morning, with ideal conditions for riding – so ideal that Johann Zarco sliced another tenth of a second off the outright lap record in FP1 – and in the last ten minutes or so of FP2 for the Moto3 class, a few drops of rain, and then lightning, and a hailstorm in 30°C heat. The MotoGP riders went out on a soaking track, but by the time the session finished, it was almost dry.
Iker Lecuona seized his opportunity. The Tech3 KTM rider had been quick enough on wets, but at the end of FP2, he swapped to slicks, and banged in a time nearly 3.4 seconds faster than anyone else had managed. Jack Miller was the only other rider to stick a set of slicks in at the end, though he was not chasing a time, but trying to understand how the medium slicks would work on a track which was still quite wet.
"I just went out on the mediums to understand how they work in quite a lot of water on the track," Miller explained. "Because it's quite stop-start here, you're putting a lot of weight on both the front and the rear tyre, and the medium definitely feels better. So I just wanted to understand how quickly I could get them up to temperature and working, and they worked pretty good."
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2021 Austria MotoE FP3 Result: Aldeguer Makes His Move
MotoE opened the show on day 2 at the Red Bull Ring and Fermín Aldeguer led the way as the fastest man over all three practice sessions. Matteo Ferrari in second position was over three tenths of a second slower, with Lukas Tulovic taking third. Dominique Aegerter dropped to fourth ahead of reigning cup victor Jordi Torres and Xavi Cardelus. Eric Granado spent some time at the top of the timing screens but eventually dropped to seventh position, with Kevin Zannoni, Alessandro Zaccone and Miquel Pons rounding out the top 10 positions.
Results:
2021 Austria MotoE FP3 Result: Aldeguer Makes His Move
MotoE opened the show on day 2 at the Red Bull Ring and Fermín Aldeguer led the way as the fastest man over all three practice sessions. Matteo Ferrari in second position was over three tenths of a second slower, with Lukas Tulovic taking third. Dominique Aegerter dropped to fourth ahead of reigning cup victor Jordi Torres and Xavi Cardelus. Eric Granado spent some time at the top of the timing screens but eventually dropped to seventh position, with Kevin Zannoni, Alessandro Zaccone and Miquel Pons rounding out the top 10 positions.
Results:
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2021 Austria Moto3 FP3 Result: Guevara Shows Off
Nice and dry asphalt greeted the lightweight class for their final practice session at the Red Bull Ring but that just invited to a dawdling domino for the final time attack. After Darryn Binder and Deniz Öncü shared the limelight early on, the shootout for the top 14 started early by Moto3 standards, in the final seven or so minutes. Rookie Izan Guevara was quick to take control of proceedings as the fastest man of the weekend so far, six hundredths of a second ahead of Öncü.
2021 Austria Moto3 FP3 Result: Guevara Shows Off
Nice and dry asphalt greeted the lightweight class for their final practice session at the Red Bull Ring but that just invited to a dawdling domino for the final time attack. After Darryn Binder and Deniz Öncü shared the limelight early on, the shootout for the top 14 started early by Moto3 standards, in the final seven or so minutes. Rookie Izan Guevara was quick to take control of proceedings as the fastest man of the weekend so far, six hundredths of a second ahead of Öncü.
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2021 Austria MotoGP FP3 Result: Bagnaia Picks Up The Pace
After the unexpected washout of FP2, the premier class took no chances on Saturday morning and attacked the timesheets quite early. The Frenchmen traded top spot early on, with Fabio Quartararo spending the most time up there but with Johann Zarco’s FP1 lap record still standing. Although Pecco Bagnaia eventually demoted Quartararo from the lead of FP3, the Yamaha man showed impressive pace, while Zarco remained the fastest man of the weekend and third in the session.
2021 Austria MotoGP FP3 Result: Bagnaia Picks Up The Pace
After the unexpected washout of FP2, the premier class took no chances on Saturday morning and attacked the timesheets quite early. The Frenchmen traded top spot early on, with Fabio Quartararo spending the most time up there but with Johann Zarco’s FP1 lap record still standing. Although Pecco Bagnaia eventually demoted Quartararo from the lead of FP3, the Yamaha man showed impressive pace, while Zarco remained the fastest man of the weekend and third in the session.
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2021 Austria Moto2 FP3 Result: Gardner Grabs Lap Record
The intermediate class fully embraced their final opportunity to pick up places directly to Q2 and riders were quick to improve on Friday’s benchmark. It was the usual contenders battling for practice supremacy, with Marco Bezzecchi leading for most of the session until Raul Fernandez improved the all-time lap record in the final handful of minutes. The Spaniard did not get to keep the record for long, as teammate Remy Gardner robbed him again in the closing stages, dropping Fernandez to second on the timesheets.
2021 Austria Moto2 FP3 Result: Gardner Grabs Lap Record
The intermediate class fully embraced their final opportunity to pick up places directly to Q2 and riders were quick to improve on Friday’s benchmark. It was the usual contenders battling for practice supremacy, with Marco Bezzecchi leading for most of the session until Raul Fernandez improved the all-time lap record in the final handful of minutes. The Spaniard did not get to keep the record for long, as teammate Remy Gardner robbed him again in the closing stages, dropping Fernandez to second on the timesheets.
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Official: Petronas Ends Sponsorship Of SRT Team, New Structure To Be Created
Petronas are to end their sponsorship of the Sepang Racing Team at the end of 2021. The news had been reported for a couple of days, but this morning, an official press release came from the Sepang International Circuit announcing the news officially.
Petronas had been title sponsor to the team since 2018, when they only had teams in the Moto2 and Moto3 classes. The next year, they increased the budget to allow them to expand into MotoGP. Three seasons later, they are pulling out of sponsorship once again.
The consequences of this have yet to be announced. The team is set to make an official announcement at Silverstone, in two weeks time. But the team is expected to be reducing their presence in the MotoGP paddock to just the MotoGP team, closing their Moto2 and Moto3 teams.
Official: Petronas Ends Sponsorship Of SRT Team, New Structure To Be Created
Petronas are to end their sponsorship of the Sepang Racing Team at the end of 2021. The news had been reported for a couple of days, but this morning, an official press release came from the Sepang International Circuit announcing the news officially.
Petronas had been title sponsor to the team since 2018, when they only had teams in the Moto2 and Moto3 classes. The next year, they increased the budget to allow them to expand into MotoGP. Three seasons later, they are pulling out of sponsorship once again.
The consequences of this have yet to be announced. The team is set to make an official announcement at Silverstone, in two weeks time. But the team is expected to be reducing their presence in the MotoGP paddock to just the MotoGP team, closing their Moto2 and Moto3 teams.
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2021 Austria Moto3 Qualifying Result: It's Been A Long Wait
Results and summary of qualifying for the Moto3 class in Austria:
2021 Austria Moto3 Qualifying Result: It's Been A Long Wait
Results and summary of qualifying for the Moto3 class in Austria:
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2021 Austria MotoGP FP4 Result: Zarco Leads Close Field
With riders being as familiar as they can get with the Red Bull Ring after experiencing it in pretty much all conditions over the past 10 days, FP4 was a tight-knit affair on the timesheets. The much warmer conditions saw a lot of hard front rubber on trial and the quickest man on it was the quickest man throughout practice, Johann Zarco. However, the Frenchman was only one tenth ahead of rookie Enea Bastianini, who almost matched his excellent pace.
2021 Austria MotoGP FP4 Result: Zarco Leads Close Field
With riders being as familiar as they can get with the Red Bull Ring after experiencing it in pretty much all conditions over the past 10 days, FP4 was a tight-knit affair on the timesheets. The much warmer conditions saw a lot of hard front rubber on trial and the quickest man on it was the quickest man throughout practice, Johann Zarco. However, the Frenchman was only one tenth ahead of rookie Enea Bastianini, who almost matched his excellent pace.