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Race report
MotoGP Austrian GP

MotoGP Austrian GP: Bagnaia beats Martin to win, reclaims points lead

Bagnaia makes it a hat-trick of Austria wins to take back the control of the championship

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia outduelled MotoGP title rival Jorge Martin to take a convincing victory in the Austrian Grand Prix and retake the top spot in the championship standing.

Bagnaia again made the best start from the front row of the grid but couldn’t pass polesitter Martin, who did just enough to hold the lead into the opening right-hander and the tricky Turn 2 chicane.

However, with the race lead so important at Spielberg to maintain tyre pressures, Bagnaia made another attempt at Turn 1 at the start of the second lap and got the move done on brakes to drop Martin to second.

The Pramac rider tried to retaliate into Turn 9 on the same lap but ran too deep into the corner, allowing Bagnaia to stay in front.

For almost the first half the race, the two riders circulated within just a few tenths of each other, with Bagnaia successfully responding every time Martin picked up the pace.

But on lap 14 of 28, Martin started to run out of steam, the Spaniard’s lap times dropping in the 1m30s bracket. Bagnaia, meanwhile, was still able to maintain his early-race speed, allowing him to pull out an advantage of over a second.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

With the late threat of rain never materialising, Bagnaia was able to cruise to the finish and claim his seventh win of the season, taking a five-point lead in the championship in the process.

Martin had no answer to Bagnaia’s pace in the final laps of the race and had to settle for second, 2.2s adrift of his title rival.

A rapid getaway propelled Enea Bastianini to third on the opening lap, but the factory Ducati rider lacked his usual late-race pace, ending up 7s behind race winner and team-mate Bagnaia.

Marc Marquez was able to recover to fourth on the Gresini Ducati after make a shocking start from third on the grid, likely due to a disengaged front holeshot device.

Tumbling down the order long before the braking zone, Marquez hit the Pramac Ducati of Franco Morbidelli before overshooting Turn 1, rejoining the track down in 13th place.

However, the six-time champion was able to lap consistently in the 1m29s bracket throughout the race, surging back to fourth by lap 18, where he would finish in the end.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Brad Binder scored a solid fifth place on KTM’s home turf after an impressive charge from 12th on the grid, but the RC16 lacked the pace to put up any fight against the Ducatis.

Sixth place went to Marco Bezzecchi on the VR46 Ducati, while Maverick Vinales successfully repassed team-mate Aleix Espargaro at Turn 9 on lap 19 to finish as the top Aprilia in seventh. Espargaro was later demoted to ninth by Morbidelli, who also ran wide at the start after coming together with Marquez.

The top 10 was completed by Alex Marquez on the other Gresini Ducati, while KTM wildcard Pol Espargaro took 11th ahead of and Trackhouse rider Miguel Oliveira.

Having missed Q2 for the first time in his MotoGP career on Saturday, Tech3 GasGas rider Pedro Acosta had a tough race en route to 13th place, as he lacked the pace to contend for a spot inside the top 10.

The list of points scorers was completed by LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami and Acosta’s team-mate Augusto Fernandez.

Yamaha failed to score points in Austria, with the marque’s lead rider Fabio Quartararo picking up a long penalty for exceeding track limits and ended up 18th, two spots behind team-mate Alex Rins.

Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse) and Luca Marini (Honda) were the only two riders to retire from the race, while Jack Miller crashed on lap 11 while running in sixth but was able to remount on his KTM to take 19th.

MotoGP Austrian GP – Race results

   
1
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5
   
   
1
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2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Retirement Points
1 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 28

-

      25
2 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 28

+3.232

3.232

3.232     20
3 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 28

+7.357

7.357

4.125     16
4 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 28

+13.836

13.836

6.479     13
5 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 28

+18.620

18.620

4.784     11
6 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 28

+21.206

21.206

2.586     10
7 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 28

+24.322

24.322

3.116     9
8 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 28

+27.677

27.677

3.355     8
9 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 28

+28.829

28.829

1.152     7
10 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 28

+30.268

30.268

1.439     6
11 Spain P. Espargaro Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 44 KTM 28

+30.526

30.526

0.258     5
12 Portugal M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team 88 Aprilia 28

+30.702

30.702

0.176     4
13 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 28

+33.736

33.736

3.034     3
14 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 28

+36.310

36.310

2.574     2
15 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 28

+36.522

36.522

0.212     1
16 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 28

+37.571

37.571

1.049      
17 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 28

+40.432

40.432

2.861      
18 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 28

+43.788

43.788

3.356      
19 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 28

+44.134

44.134

0.346      
20 Italy L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team 32 Aprilia 28

+44.576

44.576

0.442      
21 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 28

+54.126

54.126

9.550      
22 Germany S. Bradl HRC Test Team 6 Honda 28

+54.923

54.923

0.797      
dnf Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 27

1 lap

    Retirement  
dnf Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 5

23 laps

    Retirement  

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