Austrian MotoGP Practice Results | Ducati dominant at tweaked Red Bull Ring

Ducati consolidated its status as firm favourite for the 2022 Austrian MotoGP as Johann Zarco headed up a dominant display that saw seven of its riders fill the top eight positions at the revised Red Bull Ring.

With six wins from the nine MotoGP events held at the Spielberg circuit - seven Austrian, two Styrian MotoGP races -  Ducati will feel optimistic about making it a seventh this weekend after dominating the provisional Q2-qualifying top ten with a 1-2-3-5-6-7-8 rout FP2.

With FP1 spent getting to grips with the new chicane inserted to slow down speeds on the run up to the former Turn 3 hairpin at the top of the hill, the fastest times would thus come in the much quicker FP2.

As the threat of rain sparking a flurry of activity in the final ten minutes, the top spot repeatedly changed hands as the pace quickened.

In the end though it was Pramac Racing’s Zarco - a pole sitter last time out at Silverstone - sitting pretty at the top of the timesheets come the chequered flag with a 1m 29.837secs effort.

Even so, it was remarkably close just behind him with second place Jack Miller and Jorge Martin just 0.024s and 0.029s behind respectively.

Championship leader Fabio Quartararo also came close to spoiling the Ducati party altogether as the only rider not on a Desmo to factor in the leading positions, the Frenchman just 0.040s adrift in fourth.

Title chaser Pecco Bagnaia made do with fifth, with VR46 pairing Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi, plus Enea Bastianini following up in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.

Leaving only two more provisional Q2 spots open, the in form Maverick Vinales sneaked into contention with ninth on the Aprilia, with Brad Binder - a popular winner at the Red Bull Ring last season - giving home favourites KTM some encouragement with tenth.

Indeed, Vinales and Binder’s efforts might prove crucial since rain is forecast through much of Saturday, including during the pivotal FP3.

By contrast, this spells bad news for title contender Aleix Espargaro, who was bumped down the order to just outside the top ten in 11th place. 

Takaaki Nakagami led the Honda challenge in 12th place, while Alex Rins was top Suzuki rider in 13th.

Beyond Binder’s positive result, it was an otherwise disappointing day for Austria’s KTM with both Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez taking a tumble in the closing stages, leaving them 22nd and 25th.

2022 Austrian MotoGP | Red Bull Ring | Free Practice RESULTS [FP1+FP2]