Binder wins wet and wild Austrian MotoGP

With just three laps to run and heavy enough rain to convince the leading five riders to pit and switch bikes, Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder held his nerve, stayed out on slicks and somehow managed to splash his way to his second-ever premier-class victory.

“It was like riding on ice,” he said in parc ferme. “My carbon brakes went cold, I had no brakes either, but I felt like I had to take the gamble.”

The lap previous, he was in sixth and doing all he could to get his hooks into the back of reigning world champ Joan Mir (Ecstar Suzuki) who, along with last weekend’s winner Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati), were doing all they could to reduce the one-second gap to the leading trio.

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Up ahead, long-time leader Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) was coming under some serious pressure from Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) who could smell victory at a track he’d never celebrated a win at before. Championship leader Fabio Quartararo was in a relatively comfortable third place, regrouping after what had already been 23 dramatic laps of the top five riders all hungry for victory and all fast and switching positions.

But then the rain flags were thrown and spots of rain began falling. Jack Miller (Lenovo Ducati) and Alex Rin (Ecstar Suzuki), at that point seventh and eighth respectively, took a chance and peeled in early to switch bikes. However at that point the track wasn’t wet enough for them to take the advantage they probably deserved.

One lap later, when Marquez led Bagnaia, Martin, Quartararo and Mir into pitlane, it was raining heavily. Binder rolled the dice and stayed out, with little to lose. They quintet rejoined the race in 10th to 14th respectively with only three laps to make it count.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Gresini) had found himself in second place with Valentino Rossi (Petronas SRT Yamaha) all of a sudden in third place as they, too, tiptoed around on slicks.

The pace of the five on wets was building though, led by Marquez who pushed too much going into the first corner to start the penultimate lap and slid off, sucking Quartararo wide into the first corner and off the track. When Brad binder crossed the line to start the final lap he had a lead of 11 seconds, Bagnaia was down in tenth, Martin 11th.

Riding for his future, Tech3 KTM’s Iker Lecuona picked off Espargaro and Rossi for third, bringing rookie Luca Marini (Avintia Ducati VR46) along with him. But with half a lap to go, Bagnaia appeared at the back of the group with Martin in hot pursuit. The two Ducati men used their wet tyres to ride around the eight riders ahead of them, eventually crossing the line in second and third respectively, to complete the podium of one of recent history’s most remarkable and memorable premier-class races.

Joan Mir followed for fourth place, while Marini was the first man over the line with slick tyres, followed by Lecuona in sixth. Quartararo crossed the line in seventh, ahead of Rossi, Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) and Espargaro rounding out the top 10. Miller finished 11th.

Johann Zarco, who showed superior pace all weekend, crashed out with 10 laps to go which meant he dropped from second to fourth in the overall standings. Bagnaia’s second place lifts him to second overall, equal on points with third-placed Mir. Quartararo has 181 points to Bagnaia and Mir’s 134, Zarco has 132, while Miller stays in fifth on 105 points, 76 adrift from the Yamaha rider.

Aussie Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) paid the price for a poor start in the Moto2 Grand Prix, starting from fourth on the grid but finding himself down in 11th in the opening lap as pole man Sam Lowes (MarcVDS) grabbed the holeshot ahead of Gardner’s teammate Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia).

Fernandez took the lead from Lowes on the fourth lap and, as he has done so often this year, displayed focus and consistency that belies his rookie status. Equally impressive, rookie Ogura fought his way through to second and piled the pressure on the Red Bull Ajo rider. But Fernandez had an answer for every question the Japanese rider asked, Augusto Fernandez had passed his MarcVDS teammate for third, and by the time they crossed the line with one lap left to run, Raul Fernandez had stretched his lead to eight tenths a second and Ogura was forced to settle for second.

Sam Lowes hung on for fourth place ahead of Somkiat Chantra (Honda Team Asia) and Celestino Vietti (Sky Racing Team VR46). The best Remy Gardner to do was seventh, ahead of Aron Canet (Aspar Team), Thomas Luthi (Pertimina Mandalika SAG Team) and last weekend’s winner Marco Bezzechi (Sky Racing Team VR46).

The result cuts Gardner’s championship lead down to 206 to Fernandez’s 187. Bezzechi stays in third with 159, Lowes has 114, while Canet rounds out the top five with 83 points.

After crashing and remounting for second place at last weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix, Sergio Garcia (SANTANDER Consumer GasGas) was determined to go one better one week later. And that’s exactly what he did when he picked the pocket of Denis Oncu (Tech3 KTM) to take the win in the last corner.

It was a six-rider battle in the end, with championship leader Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) and teammate Jaume Masia battling with Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Husqvarna) while Leopard Honda’s Dennis Foggia did everything he could to stay hooked into the leading group. His persistence paid off, too, when a move under brakes saw him move into third place in the penultimate corner, which he managed to hold to the line to complete the podium. Acosta was fourth ahead of Fenati and Masia in sixth.

Garcia (155 points) managed to trim Acosta’s (196) lead to 41 points, Fenati sits in third overall with 107 points ahead of Foggia (102) and Masia (95).

The series now moves to Slvestone for the British Grand Prix held over 27-29 August.