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 standings.
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
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
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.