Source: Supplied.

Andrea Iannone has taken an incredible last dash pole position at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, as the Italian came out top in a four-way shootout at the front. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was just beaten to the top spot and will start from the middle of the front row, ahead of the second Desmosedici of Andrea Dovizioso.

Iannone, who is riding through the pain of an injury sustained during a motocross incident in the summer break, was the last man to cross the line and made it count – taking the honours after the flag had dropped and knocking fellow Italian Valentino Rossi off the top.

The Ducati rider, who is set to move to Team Suzuki Ecstar next season, sealed his second pole position of his career after dueling with his teammate for supremacy throughout the weekend.

Valentino Rossi, who briefly led the way in the final seconds, leapt up the timesheets in Q2 to get involved in the fight for pole – and the 9-time world champion will surely be satisfied with a front row start and an incredible improvement for the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team after struggling for pace during some sessions of the weekend so far. The 9-time world champion took his first pole in the world championship at the track, almost twenty years ago.

Andrea Dovizioso, who topped the timesheets ahead of the session, was unable to beat his teammate to the top but has spent much of the weekend focusing on long run pace – something that could play into his hands as the race gets underway on Sunday. With the battle close at the top and the strong points of the Ducati lending the Italian a natural advantage on race day, the front row start could be important.

Early pacesetter Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) looked set for pole until the final laps of the session, with the reigning world champion pulling some incredible form out of the bag to get involved in the shootout at the front. Points leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), after dislocating his shoulder in a crash in FP3, put in a valiant qualifying run to start the race from the middle of the front row, ahead of compatriot Maverick Vñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar), who completed the all-Spanish second row.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Yakhnich) and Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) completed row 3, with Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing) beating first time Q2 participant Eugene Laverty (PULL&BEAR Aspar Team) to P10. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) suffered the most in the session, ending up P12 but having made big progress since a Friday morning crash set his weekend off on the wrong foot – the Sabadell native went two seconds quicker on Saturday.

Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) has taken pole position in Moto2 qualifying in Austria, keeping himself in the front seat as MotoGP returns to the country for the first time in nearly two decades. Franco Morbidelli (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) took P2 for his best-ever qualifying position, ahead of Tom Luthi as the Garage Plus Interwetten rider completed the front row.

Red Bull KTM Ajo are racing at home at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, and it was expected that Brad Binder would follow up his domination of Friday with a pole position at the team’s home GP – but it was Leopard Racing’s rookie Joan Mir who took the top spot, with Binder’s fastest lap interrupted in the final corner and the South African then unable to improve. Gresini Racing Moto3 rider Enea Bastianini remained one of the closest challengers to the front and will complete the front row in P3.