Pecco Bagnaia wins his third consecutive race in Spielberg

Jorge Martin started from pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of championship leader and Tissot Sprint winner Francesco Bagnaia with Marc Marquez in third place looking to redeem his DNF from the sprint. Fabio Di Giannantonio was declared unfit after suffering a shoulder injury in Practice on Friday.

The lights went out and it was Martin who took the holeshot ahead of Pecco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini, Marc Marquez went backwards and made contact with Franky Morbidelli, the Spaniard was down to 13th with the Italian in 18th.

On lap two Pecco out-braked Martin into turn one and made the move stick. Jack Miller and Brad Binder were holding on to the GP24 Ducati’s in fourth and fifth. Martin went up the inside of Bagnia into turn nine but ran wide and had to settle back into second. Bastianini was staying with the leaders, would his notorious late race pace come in use at the end of the race?

Marco Bezzecchi was the fastest rider on track on lap three and was running in seventh place behind Aleix Espargaro.

The Marquez brothers were in ninth and tenth with Marc passing Alex at turn two-a, Bezzecchi passed Aleix Espargaro at turn three for sixth on lap six. Wildcard Pol Espargaro was running in 11th.

Miller and Binder were battling for fourth place with the two Red Bull KTM’s going side-by-side for most of the second sector with Binder moving into fourth, Bezzecchi then passed Miller at turn one take fifth.

Miller lost the front and crashed at turn two-a on lap 11 from sixth place, he was doing a great job holding off Marc Marquez but the Australian was now out of contention.

On lap 14 Bagnaia had pulled a 1.3 second gap over Martin, Bastianini was 2.5 seconds behind the Spaniard.

After being behind Bezzecchi for a long time Marc Marquez muscled his way passed the VR46 Ducati rider and moved into fifth place. Marquez then passed Binder at turn six on lap 18 to move into fourth, Bastainini was 8.5 seconds up the road.

The clouds over the hills were getting darker and darker, thunderstorms were forecast between 2pm and 8pm.

Francesco Bagnaia crossed the line to take victory in Spielberg, his third victory in a row at the circuit. Martin settled for second place with Bastianini in third.

Marc Marquez finished in a frustrated looking fourth with Binder in fifth and Bezzecchi in sixth. Maverick Vinales was seventh with Morbidelli in eighth, Aleix Espargaro in ninth and Alex Marquez in tenth.

Bagnaia leads the championship on 275 points with Martin five points behind.

Featured Image: Ducati Corse