Yamaha's Vinales claims pole at Austrian Grand Prix

Vinales' time of 1 minute and 23.450 seconds was enough for his first pole since the Australian Grand Prix last year.

Yamaha's Maverick Vinales took pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Yamaha's Maverick Vinales took pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix, edging out Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller in a closely contested qualifying session in Spielberg on Saturday.

Vinales did not set the fastest time in any of the four sectors at the Red Bull Ring but his time of 1 minute and 23.450 seconds was enough for his first pole since the Australian Grand Prix last year.

“I'm really happy because my objective was [to be] in the front row but suddenly I felt an incredible feeling with the bike. Since this morning we have made a really big improvement, so the team has done a really good job,” Vinales said.

“We need to try to understand for tomorrow's race which are going to be the best tyres but anyway the bike is working fantastic.

“It was a lot different from Brno (the Czech MotoGP last weekend), so I am very happy and enthusiastic as we know on one lap, we are very fast.”

The Spaniard was 0.068 seconds faster than Miller while world championship leader Fabio Quartararo of Petronas Yamaha completes the front row.

Andrea Dovizioso, who made headlines before the qualifying session when his manager confirmed he would not be renewing his deal with Ducati next year, will start fourth on the grid while KTM Factory Racing's Pol Espargaro was fifth fastest.