The day’s action started with a 20-lap Moto3 race, where David Alonso scored his seventh win of the season to extend his lead in the championship standings.
Alonso’s victory chances were aided by early drama for title rival and polesitter Ivan Ortola, who was forced to peel into the pits due to technical drama just seconds after taking his spot on the grid.
However, it wasn’t all clean sailing for the CFMoto Aspar rider, who had to serve a long lap penalty on lap three for riding slowly earlier in the weekend that dropped him down to 10th.
That meant that Boe Motorsports’ Joel Kelso led the early part of the race from Tech3 rival Daniel Holgado and team-mate David Munoz, with the trio pulling away by a second from the rest of the pack.
It was on lap seven when Holgado passed Kelso for the lead that more riders started joining the lead group, with Intact GP’s Collin Veijer looking particularly rapid on the Husqvarna.
After dispatching Kelso for third, Veijer demoted Munoz into Turn 1 before finally passing Holgado for the lead later on at the same corner.
By this point, Alonso was firmly a part of the lead group and on lap 13 he cleared Munoz and Leopard Racing’s Angel Piqueras in quick succession to slot himself directly behind Veijer into second, while Holgado dropped to fifth.
After a failed attempt at passing Veijer into Turn 9 the following tour, Alonso finally pulled off what turned out to be the decisive move for the lead into the same right-hander on lap 15.
Alonso faced severe pressure from a number of riders in the final five laps of the race, but held on to the top spot by 0.121s.
Munoz emerged ahead in a drag race with Holgado to the finish line to take second by just 0.005s, while Veijer fell to fifth behind Piqueras.
Ortola put in a solid recovery after starting from the pitlane, but could also climb as high as ninth at the finish, losing even more ground in the title fight to winner Alonso.
Moto3 Austrian GP — Race results
| 1 |
D. Alonso CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team |
80 | CF MOTO | 20 | 154.9 | 25 | ||||
| 2 |  D. Munoz BOE Motorsports |
64 | KTM | 20 | 0.121 | 154.9 | 20 | |||
| 3 | D. Holgado Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 |
96 | GASGAS | 20 | 0.005 | 154.9 | 16 | |||
| 4 |
Á. Piqueras Leopard Racing |
36 | Honda | 20 | 0.085 | 154.9 | 13 | |||
| 5 |
C. Veijer Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP |
95 | Husqvarna | 20 | 0.092 | 154.9 | 11 | |||
| 6 |  A. Fernandez Leopard Racing |
31 | Honda | 20 | 2.423 | 154.7 | 10 | |||
| 7 |
J. Antonio Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
99 | KTM | 20 | 0.064 | 154.7 | 9 | |||
| 8 |  J. Kelso BOE Motorsports |
66 | KTM | 20 | 0.096 | 154.7 | 8 | |||
| 9 |
I. Ortola MT Helmets — MSI |
48 | KTM | 20 | 4.656 | 154.3 | 7 | |||
| 10 |  R. Rossi CIP |
54 | KTM | 20 | 0.422 | 154.3 | 6 | |||
| 11 | M. Bertelle Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team |
18 | Honda | 20 | 0.420 | 154.2 | 5 | |||
| 12 |  T. Suzuki Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP |
24 | Husqvarna | 20 | 0.063 | 154.2 | 4 | |||
| 13 | R. Yamanaka MT Helmets — MSI |
6 | KTM | 20 | 3.186 | 154.0 | 3 | |||
| 14 |
J. Roulstone Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 |
12 | GASGAS | 20 | 0.071 | 154.0 | 2 | |||
| 15 | T. Furusato Honda Team Asia |
72 | Honda | 20 | 2.138 | 154.3 | 1 | |||
| 16 |
N. Fabio LEVELUP — MTA |
10 | KTM | 20 | 5.335 | 153.4 | ||||
| 17 |
L. Lunetta SIC58 Squadra Corse |
58 | Honda | 20 | 0.036 | 153.4 | ||||
| 18 |
X. Zurutuza Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
85 | KTM | 20 | 0.059 | 153.4 | ||||
| 19 |  S. Ogden Fibre Tec Honda — MLav Racing |
19 | Honda | 20 | 1.349 | 153.3 | ||||
| 20 |
D. Almansa Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team |
22 | Honda | 20 | 0.147 | 153.3 | ||||
| 21 |
T. Buasri Honda Team Asia |
5 | Honda | 20 | 3.325 | 153.1 | ||||
| 22 |
J. Rosenthaler Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP |
34 | Husqvarna | 20 | 0.894 | 153.0 | ||||
| 23 | V. Pérez Fibre Tec Honda — MLav Racing |
21 | Honda | 20 | 0.249 | 153.0 | ||||
| 24 |
N. Dettwiler CIP |
55 | KTM | 20 | 3.781 | 152.7 | ||||
| 25 |
J. Esteban CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team |
78 | CF MOTO | 20 | 1.440 | 152.6 | ||||
| 26 |
F. Farioli SIC58 Squadra Corse |
7 | Honda | 20 | 15.070 | 151.5 | ||||
| dnf | S. Nepa LEVELUP — MTA |
82 | KTM | 14 | 6 Laps | 153.8 | Accident |
Celestino Vietti, Red Bull KTM Ajo
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
In Moto2, Celestino Vietti scored his second consecutive victory in Austria, as championship contenders Sergio Garcia and Fermin Aldeguer finished outside the top 10.
Vietti didn’t make the best of starts from pole position and dropped to second behind Aron Canet, but was able to regain the position on the second lap with a brilliant pass over his Fantic rival into Turn 4.
Canet then dropped behind Speed Up Racing’s Alonso Lopez on the following tour, while Vietti slowly carved a buffer of over a second on his Ajo Kalex during the next phase of the race.
There was drama for the Italian on lap 10 when he appeared to run into a gear-shifting problem at Turn 3, allowing Lopez and Canet to close in within four tenths of him.
However, with Lopez and Canet engaging in a battle of their own on lap 15, Vietti was able to pull away from the chasing pack again and eventually claim his first race win in 12 months by 1.85s.
Lopez took second, while CFMoto Aspar’s Jake Dixon demoted Canet on the last lap to clinch the final spot on the podium.
Fifth place went to Marc VDS rider Tony Arbolino, while points leader Garcia looked set to finish sixth until he was hit with a long lap penalty for exceeding track limits with just four laps left to run.
Taking the loop at the exit of Turn 1 on lap 20, the MT Helmets — MSI rider rejoined the circuit down in 13th place, before taking the chequered flag in a lowly 14th position.
However, with his nearest rival and team-mate Ai Ogura missing the race after suffering an injury in a crash in Saturday practice, Garcia returns from the weekend with an even bigger lead in the standings.
Speed Up’s Aldeguer had an even more miserable race than Garcia as he languished down in 20th place, having started 17th on the grid, while Joe Roberts could only manage ninth for the American Racing Team.