Marc Márquez and the Ducati Lenovo Team fourth in Spielberg Friday. Francesco Bagnaia, eighteenth, to tackle Q1

• Fermín Aldeguer is second with the Ducati of Gresini Racing MotoGP

The Ducati Lenovo Team wrapped up the opening day of the Grand Prix of Austria, which is the fifteenth event of the season. At Spielberg, Marc Márquez secured fourth place in Practice, while Francesco Bagnaia finished eighteenth and will therefore tackle Q1.

Márquez, who was fourth also in the morning session, stayed consistently in the top ten during Practice and moved up to second place with twelve minutes remaining. Marc then further improved his lap time during the final time attack to finish fourth, around two tenths of a second adrift of today's fastest time. Bagnaia showed a step forward at the beginning of the afternoon session but was unable to bounce back in the closing stages.

The Ducati Lenovo Team will resume proceedings tomorrow at 10:10 local time (GMT +2) for Free Practice 2, which will be followed by Q1 (10:50), Q2 (11:15) and the fifteenth Sprint of the season, to be contested over 14 laps from 15:00.

Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 4th
“Today we worked hard and well. The feeling in FP1 wasn't the best, while we improved with each outing during Practice and I believe we have now found the direction to follow. Tomorrow we'll surely have to make another step forward. The bike behaviour at this track is very different and we need to find a way to make it work at its best, especially with the rear-tyre casing we have available here in Austria. We'll keep working with the goal of doing well both in qualifying and in the Sprint.”

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 18th
“We tried to lap as much as we could and did a lot of work. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the performance out, but we'll keep giving our best effort in order to turn things around. The main point to work on is trying to find grip. All in all, it didn't go that badly despite the final position, as lap times are usually extremely close at this track. This is the situation and – in some ways – my potential at the moment, but we'll try to do our best.”