Francesco Bagnaia concluded a perfect weekend in Austria on Sunday with another controlled victory (as in the sprint on Saturday) in the main race on the Red Bull Ring. The Italian, who started perfectly, was caught for a while by Brad Binder (KTM), before escaping halfway through the race and then continuously widening the gap (more than 5 seconds at the finish) with the South African.
Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati VR46) completed the podium after getting the better of Alex Marquez (Ducati Gresini) seven laps from the finish, concluding a long and spectacular battle. This is the fifth Grand Prix victory this season (and the third sprint-Grand Prix double after Portugal and Italy) for the reigning world champion, who is still widening the gap in the general standings.
Quartararo and Zarco could never extricate themselves from intense midfield struggle
His closest pursuer, Jorge Martin (Ducati Pramac) now has 62 points (251 against 189), since he could not do better than 7th at Spielberg. It’s almost a lesser evil for the Spaniard who went far and had to serve his “long lap” penalty, punished, for having caused the big collision in the first corner during the sprint on Saturday. After falling back to 13th place, Martin made a good comeback but stopped before he could approach the top 5. As a result, Bezzecchi, with his podium, is down to six points (183 points) in the fight for the runner-up position in the Championship.
The two French drivers were never able to get out of the intense fight in the middle of the pack. Better off, Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) lost time and places on the second lap when, struggling with Aleix Espargaro, he went off track in the last corner. Thanks to a good pace in the second part of the race, he finished eighth after getting the better of… Espargaro at the end of the race. This remains his best result since the French Grand Prix (7th), mid-May.
After falling back at the start, Johann Zarco (Ducati Pramac) had a difficult race and only took 13th place. Note that Marc Marquez (Honda) saw the checkered flag of a MotoGP Grand Prix for the first time since Malaysia last year, nearly ten months. He finishes 12th.