Jordi Torres, who will start from the third row, and María Herrera, who will do the same from the sixth, have had qualifying sessions with difficult track conditions

Kevin Zannoni has surprised everyone at the Austrian Grand Prix with the first pole position of his career. The Italian had not yet been on the front row of the grid this season and he has taken the first one in style. On his way to pole position, he has also set the track record for the electric category riders. Zannoni, tenth in the overall standings, will try to take advantage of his good starting position to make a step forward in the standings. Mattia Casadei, who has once again shown that he is in great shape after his victory at Silverstone, and Eric Granado, who won both races last year on the Austrian track, complete the top 3. Matteo Ferrari will start from the second row and will try to benefit from the eighth position on the grid of his main rival for the World Championship, Jordi Torres.

The Red Bull Ring was marked in red as one of the most complicated tracks on the calendar for Jordi Torres. The leader of the category has not had his best day in Austria and will start tomorrow's races from the third row. The Spanish rider has had to take part in Q1 for the second time this season after finishing 0.026 off the positions that give direct access to Q2. Despite the rain and the change of the track conditions, Torres has been the fastest in Q1 and, in Q2, he has managed to get an eighth place to save the first day of action in Austria. The World Championship leader will be looking for a good start to prevent his main rival Matteo Ferrari from going away and reducing the difference between them in the overall standings. His Openbank Aspar teammate, María Herrera, will start from eighteenth place. The Spanish rider has had a good feeling in practice sessions and has finished less than two seconds off qualifying directly to Q2. However, in Q1, the rain has changed her plans and she has not been able to improve her lap time after using wet tyres.

8th Jordi Torres 1:39.792: “The conditions today have been very difficult. It has started to rain before the qualifying and then the track has dried up. We weren't sure which tyres we should choose to go out on track with. We have decided to go with dry tyres, but there were a couple of corners that were still wet. We have stayed on track as much as possible in Q1 and that has affected us for the Q2 as we have spent more battery power. We have tried to set a strategy and we have taken the risk of doing two laps. In the end I have missed one more, but it is a good learning experience. It's a very difficult circuit for me, especially in the first and second sector.”

18th María Herrera 1:52.118: “In qualifying I have made a mistake by using rain tyres, because the track has dried quickly. In the first practice I have had a good feeling and in the second one I have gone off the track after some incidents with other riders. Tomorrow's races will be dry and I think we can make a big step forward.”