MotoGP Austrian GP: Acosta finally claims maiden win

Pedro Acosta claimed his maiden MotoGP victory with a dominant performance at the Austrian Grand Prix, while Jorge Martin extended his points lead over Marc Marquez with second.

Lining up fourth on the grid, Acosta dropped to fifth at the start but quickly recovered lost ground, picking his rivals with ease aboard the factory KTM.

Passing polesitter Martin on lap nine of 28, the 22-year-old pulled away at the front, taking the chequered flag with a winning margin of 1.01s

The result marked Acosta’s first victory in the premier class in 56 attempts, as well as the first for KTM since the 2022 Thai Grand Prix.

At the start of the race, Martin pulled away cleanly from pole to grab the holeshot, while both Marco Bezzecchi and Ai Ogura passed Marquez in the opening sequence of corners to establish an Aprilia 1-2-3.

Bezzecchi then began piling up pressure on his Aprilia team-mate Martin, passing him under braking at the start of lap two, only for the Spaniard to reclaim the lead at Turn 3 and pull clear.

Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

Meanwhile, Acosta was on the move after dropping to fifth at the start, passing Marquez on the opening lap before clearing Ogura on the following tour. Closing the gap to Bezzecchi steadily, he overtook the Italian at Turn 2 on lap two before setting off after the other Aprilia of Martin, who was running half a second up the road.

Acosta attempted multiple moves on Martin over the next few laps, but his countryman covered the line each time to keep him at bay. But the KTM star finally broke through on lap nine, snatching the lead from the Aprilia as he accelerated out of Turn 1. 

Acosta couldn’t completely break away from Martin through the middle phase of the race, but was able to maintain a solid lead of eight tenths to prevent the 2024 champion from mounting a surprise attack.

With eight laps to run, the KTM rider picked up his pace, extending his advantage to a second. The two Aprilias could do nothing to respond to Acosta’s pace, as Acosta romped to a sensational win in front of KTM’s home crowd.

Martin came under pressure from his team-mate Bezzecchi in the final laps, but he held on to finish second and extend his advantage at the top of the standings.

Returning to MotoGP this weekend after his injury layoff, Trackhouse sophomore Ogura rounded out the Spielberg weekend with another fourth-place result.

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Photo by: Joe Klamar / AFP via Getty Images

Reigning champion Marquez had a topsy-turvy race in Austria, running wide at Turn 1 on lap nine and dropping to seventh by the midway point of the race. However, he regained his composure and worked his back to the front, taking the chequered flag in fifth to limit the damage to Martin.

Brad Binder secured his best result of the season in sixth to bring more delight for KTM, while Fermin Aldeguer ended up seventh for Gresini after starting the race from 12th.

Francesco Bagnaia ran right behind Marquez at one stage but eventually wound up eighth aboard the factory Ducati, just ahead of VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio and the top Honda of LCR rider Johann Zarco.

Yamaha failed to score at the Red Bull Ring in a race that witnessed only one retirement, Gresini’s Alex Marquez, who crashed from 12th place just before the halfway point of the race.

MotoGP Austrian GP results

RACE

All Stats

 

Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37		KTM	28	42'16.996				25
2	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	89		Aprilia	28	+1.017 42'18.013	1.017			20
3	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72		Aprilia	28	+1.209 42'18.205	0.192			16
4	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79		Aprilia	28	+2.139 42'19.135	0.930			13
5	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93		Ducati	28	+7.339 42'24.335	5.200			11
6	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	28	+8.720 42'25.716	1.381			10
7	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63		Ducati	28	+9.686 42'26.682	0.966			9
8	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54		Ducati	28	+12.365 42'29.361	2.679			8
9	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	28	+14.869 42'31.865	2.504			7
10	J. Zarco Team LCR	5		Honda	28	+16.266 42'33.262	1.397			6
11	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23		KTM	28	+16.640 42'33.636	0.374			5
12	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25		Aprilia	28	+20.940 42'37.936	4.300			4
13	T. Nakagami Honda HRC	30		Honda	28	+21.032 42'38.028	0.092			3
14	L. Marini Honda HRC	10		Honda	28	+22.391 42'39.387	1.359			2
15	D. Moreira Team LCR	11		Honda	28	+24.949 42'41.945	2.558			1
16	P. Espargaro Tech 3	44		KTM	28	+25.148 42'42.144	0.199
17	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	28	+30.140 42'47.136	4.992
18	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21		Ducati	28	+34.200 42'51.196	4.060
19	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	28	+34.413 42'51.409	0.213
20	T. Razgatlioglu Pramac Racing	7		Yamaha	28	+46.724 43'03.720	12.311
21	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43		Yamaha	28	+1'07.530 43'24.526	20.806
dnf	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	12	+16 Laps 18'23.329	16 Laps		Accident
View full results