It was a day divided by the weather today for MotoGP in Austria. After an FP3 that started out wet, the asphalt on the Red Bull Ring gradually dried out so FP4 was basically dry. This made work difficult in the garage. In addition to tyre and wear testing in view of the race, there was also a need to find a good setup for the qualifiers, multiplying the efforts of riders and mechanics.
Given the less-than-perfect conditions, Aleix Espargaró preferred to stay in the garage during the morning FP3 session. In FP4, the only dry session, he focused on testing in view of the race, completing two runs without changing tyres. In qualifying he missed out on going through to Q2 by just a few tenths, while his time of 1'24.762 earned him the third spot on the fifth row of the grid.
After his third place time on the wet track in FP3, Scott Redding was unable to find the same feeling on dry asphalt. Especially in qualifying, where he had to settle for the twentieth spot on the grid with a time of 1'25.067.