Despite the sky becoming more and more threatening as the day went by, it was a fully hot and dry Super Saturday that awaited the Red Bull KTM Tech3 squad at the BWIN Grand Prix of Austria. Enea Bastianini reached his best qualifying result of 2025 to P5 on the grid coming all the way from Q1. Later on, he took the 7th place of the Tissot Sprint to bring home a few points. Unfortunately, Maverick Viñales withdrew from the Austrian Grand Prix, as a result of the pain to his left shoulder remaining too intense this morning. The recovery continues for our number 12, as we hope to see him with us again very soon.
Grand Prix of Austria
QUALIFYING
The good feeling continued for Enea Bastianini at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday morning. Despite missing out on a direct Q2 on Friday with 11th, the Italian shone in Austria after he reached his best grid position of 2025 in 5th, coming all the way from Q1. 14 laps to get all settled in FP2, and the ‘Beast’ was ready for qualifying. Enea started with a 1'28.708 which had him in a decent position, before he improved to a 1'28.353 in run 2, one that gave him the first spot of Q1! First task complete. Already on fire, Enea continued to push in Q2 with a first lap in 1’29.240, and the new soft at the rear gave him the extra he needed to improve in the final run. A late 1'28.236 saw him take the 5th position, to reach his best 2025 qualifying result. Well done Enea! Unfortunately, Maverick Viñales gave it a go again this morning as he tried to do a few laps in FP2 and Q1, but the pain on his left shoulder remained too intense, and he decided to withdraw from the Austrian Grand Prix. ‘Top Gun’ will go home as he continues his recovery, and we hope to see him very soon fully recovered!
TISSOT SPRINT
Enea Bastianini was then our sole captain lining up on the grid at the Red Bull Ring. Starting from 5th, the Italian was super unlucky as he was forced to try to move to the left to avoid Francesco Bagnaia’s massive spin when the lights went green. Enea completely moved on the left but he lost a few positions entering T1, and he was in 8th after the first lap, right behind Fabio Di Giannantonio. That first lap was not ideal, and everything had to be redone after the 23 totally lost the advantages of his best qualifying result. After 3 laps, Enea still stood in P8 chasing Di Gia’ 0.310 seconds behind, while he was followed closely by Fermin Aldeguer. Soon, the young rookie overtook Enea in the second sector of lap 5, and then one more position was dropped by Enea when Franco Morbidelli made his way past the Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider. P10 now, but not for long with the Beast not letting that one go. Shortly after he got his P9 back, just before he made a nice move on the inside of Aldeguer in T1 entering lap 7. He moved up to P6 with two riders ahead dropping, and soon began the battle for 6th against Aldeguer, as these two properly gave it to each other with just 4 laps left. The Gresini rider led the way, and a small mistake of Bastianini saw him lose contact with the young rider. Enea settled with P7, and 3 points! Let’s hope for a better start tomorrow, as the main event of the BWIN Grand Prix of Austria will start at 14:00, for 28 laps!
ENEA BASTIANINI: "Overall, I am happy enough with our day. We went to Q2 from Q1, and I had a proper fight for the pole position, until I made a small mistake in sector 3 and I lost some time. In the sprint race, Pecco's spin was tricky to avoid, I had to go outside without braking, but I could not manage it. I lost many positions at the start. I tried to come back, but then I had contact with Quartararo and Di Giannantonio and went a bit wide. It was a bit tricky, I could not push as I wanted in the second part of the race, which is normally my favorite part, but we are trying to understand race by race how we can get that feeling back. We have confirmed the steps made from Brno here in Austria, which I am pretty happy with, so let's see what we can do tomorrow, it will be important to try saving the tires, and hopefully we can fight for the top 5."
MAVERICK VIÑALES: "It was important to be on the bike this weekend to understand where I stand. Coming back just 1 month after that injury is already a miracle, because you normally need 2 to 3 months to be ok, and we probably won't be at our 100% until next year, but I could be on the bike this weekend, so it's already amazing. However, we need a bit more time to be at the maximum. It is going to be a long process, we will try to train well, to recover the muscle, and hopefully we can be back and fast soon. We will discuss things through with the team, but it is clear that there is no point for me to be in Hungary if I can't be at 100%, it is probably smartest to be at home and continue recovering."
NICOLAS GOYON, Team Manager: "It was a good Saturday here in Austria for Enea Bastianini who scored his second best sprint result of the season with a P7, after his podium in Brno. He managed to go from Q1 to Q2 for the first time this year too, so it has been a good day. It feels like Enea is finally starting to feel good on the bike, and he is enjoying the ride. The pace he had in the second half of the sprint gave us good hopes for tomorrow's main race, and we think that we can fight for a strong result. The target was different for Maverick Viñales, he needed to understand his physical condition after his surgery. He tested his shoulder as he rode all FP1 on Friday, and partially yesterday afternoon, as the pain was quite big. It was still painful this morning, so there was no point to carry on this weekend. He needs a bit more time to recover, so let's wait for him to come back in better conditions!"
QUALIFYING RESULTS
1. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA), Aprilia Racing, 1'28.060
2. Alex Marquez (SPA), BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP, +0.016
3. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA), Ducati Lenovo Team, +0.142
5. Enea Bastianini (ITA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +0.176
21. Maverick Viñales (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +1.233 (Q1)
TISSOT SPRINT RESULTS
1. Marc Marquez (SPA), Ducati Lenovo Team, 20'56.071
2. Alex Marquez (SPA), BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP, +1.180
3. Pedro Acosta (SPA), Red Bull KTM Factory, +3.126
7. Enea Bastianini (ITA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +8.294
TRACK RECORDS
All Time Record: 2024 - J. Martin (SPA) - 1'27.748 - 178.3 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2024 - F. Bagnaia (ITA) - 1'29.519 - 174.8 km/h
Best Pole: 2024 - J. Martin (SPA) - 1'27.748 - 178.3 km/h
Top Speed: 2024 - L. Savadori (ITA) - 317.1 km/h
