Martin leads FP1 while Acosta suffers a serious accident

Jorge Martin led a one-two for Pramac in opening practice for the Austrian Grand Prix after Pedro Acosta called the last-minute red flag.

After crashing at the chicane at relatively low speed just minutes earlier, Tech3 rider Acosta was involved in another incident in the closing stages of the session when he lost control of his GasGas-branded KTM at high speed on the track to Turn 4.

Although the Spaniard survived the incident unscathed, his bike crashed violently through the barriers before rebounding back onto the track, throwing debris onto the racing line and prompting race officials to raise the red flag.

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 crash

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

The session resumed after a short break with less than 3:30 minutes on the clock, but none of the front-runners were able to improve their lap times, leaving Martin at the front of the field ahead of teammate Franco Morbidelli.

Championship leader Martin was fastest just seconds before the red flag change following Acosta's accident. With a time of 1:29.654 minutes, he was two tenths ahead of long-time leader Morbidelli and ultimately secured the top spot.

At the start of the practice session, the KTM riders set the pace. Acosta set the first best time with a time of 1:30.876 minutes, before factory rider Brad Binder pulled away with a time of 1:30.236 minutes.

KTM wildcard rider Pol Espargaro then broke the 1:30 minute barrier and set new standards by lapping the Austrian circuit on an experimental version of the RC16 in 1:29.933 minutes.

With 15 minutes to go, Morbidelli ended KTM's dominance at the top of the timesheets with a time of 1:29.872 minutes on his Ducati GP24.

The Italian's time remained unbeaten until the fifth minute of the session, when Martin put on a set of soft tyres and the red flag prevented further improvements.

Behind the Pramac duo, Espargaro took third place for KTM thanks to his speed at the start of the session, while Francesco Bagnaia was fourth on the factory Ducati.

Binder finished fifth, while Acosta managed to hold on to sixth place despite his accident.

Maverick Vinales led the Aprilia team in seventh place on a day that saw his teammate Aleix Espargaro suffer two crashes in 15 minutes, both times at the tricky Turn 2 chicane that caught several riders off guard.

Eighth place went to Fabio di Giannantonio's VR46, while Joan Mir surprisingly finished ninth on his Honda, ahead of Alex Marquez's Gresini.

His teammate and older brother Marc Marquez lost his best lap due to track limits and was classified 18th, although the times were largely unrepresentative due to the red flag.

The best Yamaha rider was returning Alex Rins in 13th place with a best time of 1'30.482, one place ahead of his teammate and 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo.

MotoGP GP of Austria – Results FP1