Bagnaia continues Austrian MotoGP domination

“A Ducati day” is how Ducati Lenovo Team boss Davide Tardozzi described the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, as Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati), Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) and Enea Bastianini (Lenovo Ducati) decimated the 24-rider field on their latest-spec Desmosedicis. The top three in this year’s championship streaked away from the chasing pack early on in the 28-lap grand prix, putting almost two seconds between themselves and Aussie Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) in fourth as early as lap five.

Front-row starter Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) paid a hefty price for failing to get his holeshot device engaged on the start line and, combined with a coming together with Franky Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Ducati) off the line, the Spaniard was left in 14th place early on in the opening lap.

As the stop-and-go nature of the Red Bull Ring plays to the Ducati’s strengths, it was another Desmosedici finding early pace. Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) was the fastest man on circuit the third time around, passing Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) for seventh on lap four before deposing of his Aprilia teammate Aleix Espargaro for sixth two laps later.

Up ahead, it was home circuit battle for bragging rights between the two factory KTMs and while Miller held steadfast until lap seven, teammate Brad Binder finally found a way through on the Aussie, as Bezzecchi used the opportunity to pounce, relegating Miller to sixth.

Marc Marquez was recovering quickly from his start-line misfortune. He’d recovered four places to 10th by the fourth circuit, he then made light work of the two Aprilias, and was in seventh behind Miller on lap eight, visibly frustrated by the slower pace of the Australian’s GP16, but all too aware of his unnecessary crash out of a safe second place in the Sprint the day before. He made contact with Miller’s rear tyre on lap 10 but a mistake by the Australian at the chicane the next time around, which saw Miller lose the front and slide out of the race, gifted Marquez sixth place, almost a second behind Bezzecchi and Binder who were locked in a battle for fourth.

Unable to match the pace of the two championship rivals ahead, Bastianini had slipped to a lonely third place by half-race distance, almost two seconds behind Martin in second place, but some five seconds clear of Binder who was desperate to defend fourth from the two Ducatis of Bezz and Marquez behind him. But at the front, Bagnaia decided to shake the chasing Martin and put in a series of fast laps which forced the Spaniard to settle for a relatively safe second place. And given the pair started the race on equal points, there was too much at stake for the Prima Pramac rider to risk gifting Bagnaia a 25-point advantage.

Marquez’s remarkable recovery from 14th on the grid continued, he overthrew Bezzecchi at the chicane on lap 17 and not only closed the eight-tenths of a second gap to Binder in just a single lap but passed the South African rider for fourth the next time around. However, with 10 laps to go, the 8.752sec gap to Bastianini in third was insurmountable, even if the Gresini man was lapping half-a-second quicker a lap than the factory Ducati rider ahead of him.

With nine to go, Vinales passed his Aprilia teammate for seventh, while Morbidelli fought his way back from the Marquez tangle at the start of the race to ninth, he too with the experienced Aprilia man in his sights in the final laps.

A track-limits warning for Martin with three to go did nothing to break his resolve and while the gap to Bagnaia briefly dropped under the 1.6sec mark, the Spanish star had nothing for the reigning world champ, who banked maximum points in the Sprint the day before and who crossed the line over 3.232sec clear of Martin for his third-consecutive Austrian GP victory.

Bastianini said he was “satisfied” with his third-place finish, over four seconds behind Martin and 6.5sec ahead of Marc Marquez in fourth, but the latter was clearly unhappy with how his race unfolded, stomping back into the Gresini garage with a shrug of the shoulders as he sat down. Binder held off Bezzecchi for fifth place, Vinales hung on to seventh, Morbidelli mugged Espargaro for eighth in the final stages, while Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) rounded out the top 10. Aussie Jack Miller remounted to finish 19th.

The Austrian victory is the reigning world champion’s seventh win of the season and he’s now just five points clear of Martin with 275 points to Martin’s 270. Bastianini stays in third on 214, while Marquez is slipping out of championship contention on 192 points, 83 behind Bagnaia. Miller is 15th on 47 points.

The series now moves to Spain’s Aragon for Round 12 kicking off on Friday 30 August.