Two wins from pole for perfect Pecco

It’s not the improvement Ducati found in its starts that finally saw Pecco Bagnaia beat the two Red Bull KTMs to the first apex of the 28-lap Austrian GP that his rivals should be concerned about. Nor is it his tight, defensive lines that meant South African rider Brad Binder couldn’t find a way past for the 12 laps he was glued to the Italian’s rear wheel. Rather, it’s the unshakeable consistency the reigning world champ can maintain from the start of a race to the very end that should worry his adversaries – consistency that now has the Italian 62 points clear of the chasing pack.

With a freshly-signed contract and KTM’s big boss, Stefan Pierer, watching on, Brad Binder took off after Bagnaia, keen to hammer home why KTM sought his signature until the end of 2026, with teammate Jack Miller in hot pursuit in third.

The leading duo exchanged early fastest laps but, as the Australian struggled to keep the pace of the front runners, Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) passed Miller for third place on lap four, already 1.8 seconds adrift of the determined front runners.

Two laps later, the Mooney VR46 Ducati pairing of Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini – also with team owner Valentino Rossi watching on from the sidelines – had relegated the Aussie to sixth place as the former reeled off a couple of quick laps to try and get himself back into podium contention.

A mistake in qualifying meant title contender Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) was starting from a lowly 12th place, while an aggressive move in the previous day’s Sprint to make up for such earned the Spaniard a long-lap penalty in the full-length grand prix. So even though a strong start saw him as high as sixth early on in proceedings, he rejoined in 13th after serving his penalty, and a strong race pace saw him claw back nine points as he passed Fabio Quartararo for seventh place on the last lap.

While Austrian fans hoped the distance being put between Bagnaia and Binder was all to do with the South African managing his front-tyre pressure with some cool air, by half-race distance it was pretty clear he couldn’t keep up with the metronomic consistency of Bagnaia out front.

By lap 14, the gap hit one second for the first time. By lap 17 it had increased to 1.7sec, and by lap 22 it was 3.8sec and extended even further one lap later to 4.2sec. Binder was never troubled for second, while Marquez courageously held off multiple passing attempts by Bezzecchi until he finally made a move stick on lap 22. And while his superior pace saw him gap the Spaniard by a second in the remaining laps, it wasn’t enough to challenge Binder for second place.

Marini also found a way past the younger Marquez on lap 26, making it three VR46 Academy riders in the top four.

In the end, Bagnaia crossed the line 5.5sec clear of Binder, who in turn was 2.5sec clear of Bezzecchi. And it was Bagnaia and Binder on the top two steps of the Sprint podium, too, although Bezzecchi was one of three riders forced out of the contest as a result of the aggressive move by eventual third-place-Sprint-getter, Martin.

Maverick Vinales (Team Aprilia) couldn’t convert his fast weekend pace into a podium. He finished sixth behind Marquez, while teammate Aleix Espargaro and Lenovo Ducati’s Enea Bastianini rounded out the top 10, albeit 20 seconds behind Bagnaia.

Aussie Jack Miller dropped as low as 16th by the flag but was promoted to 15th after Pol Espargaro was demoted out of the point-scoring places for failing to serve a late-race long-lap penalty for exceeding track limits.

Joan Mir (Repsol Honda) suffered his fourth DNF of the season, while the best his teammate Marc Marquez could muster was 12th, the eight-time world champ picking up points in a full-length grand prix for the first time since October last year.

The result has Bagnaia now 62 points clear of Jorge Martin, 251 to 189, with Bezzecchi (183) 68 points adrift in third. Binder (160) stays in fourth ahead of Zarco (125) and Marini (120).

The series now heads to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.