Bezzecchi takes pole for Austrian MotoGP as Marc Marquez crashes

Marco Bezzecchi took pole position for the sprint and feature race at the Austrian MotoGP after topping a scrappy qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday.

The Aprilia rider will start on the front row ahead of Alex Marquez (Ducati-Gresini) and his Italian compatriot Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), who is third.

Championship leader Marc Marquez was one of several riders to slide off the track and will start from fourth.

Bezzecchi, who was second in the last race in Brno before the summer break, had to go through Q1 qualifying earlier in the morning to reach Q2 where pole position is decided among the 12 fastest riders.

His fastest lap of 1min 28.060 sec was 0.016sec quicker than Alex Marquez who will have to serve a long-lap penalty in Sunday's main race after wiping out Honda's Joan Mir in an accident last time at the Czech MotoGP.

"It's always a surprise when you come from Q1 to Q2 because everyone is super quick. To grab pole is fantastic because yesterday we had some problems," said Bezzecchi.

"Pace-wise it will be tough because I am not as quick as them, the KTMs are really good here. I will try and make a good start and then go out and give my all."

Marc Marquez goes into this 13th round of the 22-race campaign a massive 120 points clear of the pack led by his younger brother.

The sprint takes place at 1300 GMT on Saturday with the main race at 1200GMT on Sunday.