Bagnaia secures hat-trick in Austria

Pecco conquers the Red Bull Ring on his Ducati to notch up third straight win

Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) became just the second rider in history to win three consecutive Grand Prix races when he held off a brilliant charge from championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha). Jack Miller (Lenovo Ducati) rounded out the podium, marking the Aussie’s third rostrum finish in the last four races.

It looked as if Miller was going to have to settle to for fourth as Prima Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin regrouped after a mid-race slump, but the move he made on Miller at Turn 1 to start the final lap was too enthusiastic, and he crashed. He was lucky not to take Miller with him.

Championship contender Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) suffered by not being able to engage his holeshot device on the grid and spent the majority of the 28-lap Austrian GP defending his position, eventually bringing his RS-GP home in sixth place. He said he “cannot be happy with sixth” but added he was proud of how he rode given the circumstances, especially since he and the team knew it would be one of Aprilia’s worst tracks on the calendar.

But when his title rival Fabio Quartararo continues to produce consistent and improbable results from his YZR-M1 at tracks largely unsuited to the inline-four cylinder machine’s characteristics, Espargaro is going to have to dig very deep in the remaining seven races if he wants to keep those title hopes alive. Because, when Yamaha’s team boss Lin Jarvis said afterward that Fabio was by far the best rider on circuit, very few could disagree with him.

Pole position winner Enea Bastianini’s hopes of besting his Ducati rival for the 2023 factory Ducati ride were blighted when the pair’s early-race battle for the last podium spot ended when his Gresini Ducati’s front tyre deflated due to a damaged rim.

“I don’t know how it will [affect] my future,” said a dejected Bastianini following the race. “We will see either before or later at Misano.”

Joan Mir was an early faller in the opening lap, with the Spaniard confirming he suffered ankle fractures as a result, with rookies Remy Gardner and Darryn Binder also joining the crash list for the Austrian GP.

Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Ducati) was the top independent rider, putting his GP21 in fourth place ahead of Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Ducati), who was fast all weekend and who suffered from a poor start. Marini showed excellent race pace in FP4 too, however, and put it all together from 13th on the grid to score his best-ever finish in MotoGP. Gardner remounted to finish 20th.

But take nothing away from Bagnaia’s win. He pushed when he needed to, held his nerve when he needed to and did what he needed to do take maximum points to claw an important five points back from Quartararo.

Quartararo still leads on 200 points, extending his lead to 32 points over Espargaro (168). Bagnaia (156) edges closer with a 44-point deficit, ahead of Zarco (125) and Miller (123).

Moto2

Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) showed why he’s in firm contention for the Idemitsu LCR Honda MotoGP seat for 2023 taking both the Moto2 win and the championship lead for the first time when he and teammate Somkiat Chantra made it a Honda 1-2 at the Austrian GP.

With the duo having eked out an early lead, Celestino Vietti broke free from the chasing pack of regular front runners and started chasing them down. With a superior pace and clear dose of red mist, the Italian put in an impressive series of race-fastest laps and was on the rear tyre of Chantra with eight laps to go. But the red mist made him impatient and the Italian made a mistake on lap 17, crashing out at Turn 3, and throwing away some hugely valuable championship points.

And with the last podium spot now up for grabs, the battle between the Red Bull KTM Ajo pairing of the in-form Augusto Fernandez and Pedro Acosta, who was making his return from injury layoff, as well as Lorenzo Lopez (CAG Speed up), Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) and Jake Dixon (GasGas Aspar) began to heat up.

But there was some surprise last-lap drama when Chantra – who had been given the ‘P2 OK’ message on his pit board for the last five laps of the race, reminding the Thai rider that Ogura has a championship on the line – made a lunge for victory at the penultimate corner, but failed to make it stick.

Jake Dixon rode a superb last lap to make his podium-getting moves stick, edging out Acosta in the last corner to reach the flag first, with Fernandez in fourth and Canet fifth.

Aussie Senna Agius was making his world championship debut having being drafted in to replace the injured Sam Lowes in the Elf Marc VDS squad, and he had a promising weekend of strong results, finishing a positive 17th even after running off track during the race.

Ogura’s win now puts him just one point clear of Fernandez, 183 to 182 points, with Vietti a further 27 points back on 156 points.

Moto3

Ogura wasn’t the only Japanese rider making headlines in Austria, with Moto3 rider Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilarda Husqvarna Max) recovering from two long-lap penalties during the 23-lap race to take the flag just six hundredths of a second ahead of compatriot Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Honda), with the talented rookie David Munoz (BOE Motorsports) taking his second podium of his career in third.

Title rivals and GasGas Aspar teammates Sergio Garcia and Ivan Guevara both led at times during the race, but ultimately kept their noses clean to finish fifth and seventh respectively. Aussie Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power) made his return from injury, finishing 22nd.

In the classification, it’s Garcia (193) from Guevara (188) with Leopard Honda’s Dennis Foggia (144) a further 24 points adrift in third. Sasaki’s win elevates him to fourth on 138 points.

Bagnaia secures hat-trick in Austria

Moto2

Moto3

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