Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró took 8th and 16th places which left them wanting more, after some very promising previous sessions.
The Styrian Grand Prix, held at the Austrian Red Bull Ring circuit, started under clear skies that would deteriorate by the afternoon. However, during the morning, the Repsol Honda team riders worked with the intention of making the most of all sessions regardless of the weather, with a view to qualifying and Sunday's race.
Pol Espargaró showed from the beginning to be in good shape, constantly improving throughout free practice 1. In fact, he finished the first session in fifth place, with a best time of 1'24.254. His personal best time was unrivaled, as the rain left the circuit wet at the start of free practice 2. A 1'33.415 was Espargaró's fastest time on Friday afternoon.
Marc Márquez went straight to work after the summer break, reuniting with his Honda RC213V in FP1. Like his teammate, he worked all day to adjust to the Red Bull Ring for the rest of the weekend. A best time of 1'24.492 left Márquez just 0.221 seconds behind Espargaró in the general classification. And, also like that of Granollers, Marc was not able to improve his time in FP2, finishing the session in tenth place. It was Takaaki Nakagami who finished the day faster, with a 1'23.805.
Clear conditions on Saturday caused lap times to drop at the Red Bull Ring. Marc was one of the riders on the grid who was able to improve his time on Friday almost immediately. The good work done throughout Free Practice 3 helped # 93 secure a place in Q2, where he fell below the 1'23.5 barrier on his penultimate lap. After setting a personal best time, the eight-time world champion suffered a fall that, although harmless, prevented him from improving his time. Thus, Marc got an eighth place on the starting grid for Sunday's 28-lap race.
Unfortunately for Pol, Saturday's day was not as positive as his teammate's. In Q2, # 44 missed a position in the top ten by just 0.017 seconds. The difficulties continued in Q1, so Pol ended up taking 15th place on the starting grid.
The warm-up on Sunday morning augured a good result for Marc Márquez, as he led the session from the beginning. After a few moments of indecision, the race was finally declared dry and Márquez took advantage of the moment off the line to advance and join the group in front. However, an incident at Turn 3 after having run a few laps, caused the red flag to appear and the race was stopped.
Marquez's restart was not easy, due in large part to the lack of traction that accompanied him throughout the session and fell to 14th place, although from there the eight-time world champion began to regain positions throughout the remainder of the race. Marc, finally, finished in eighth position.
Pol, for his part, relied on the rain to start the day in Spielberg. But the rain did not come. However, Espargaró did everything possible to maximize his potential until the penalty he suffered with only eight laps remaining, leaving the Catalan driver out of the points. Finally, he crossed the finish line in 16th place.
The 2021 MotoGP World Championship will resume next weekend, when the riders return to the track on the same Austrian Red Bull Ring circuit for the 11th round of the competition.
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