2023-08-20 14:38:57
MotoGP World Champion Francesco Bagnaia confidently won the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg. The Italian world championship leader and sprint winner on Saturday also celebrated a start-finish victory on his Ducati on Sunday. KTM challenger Brad Binder was 5.191 seconds short of the long-awaited home win for the red-white-red motorcycle manufacturer. Third was the Italian Marco Bezzecchi (+7.708 / Ducati).
“I’m very happy, we’ve confirmed our potential,” Bagnaia said. A total of four Ducatis made it into the top five, with only Binder breaking through the Italian team’s armada. “I tried everything. I knew from yesterday that we lack a bit of grip. It’s great to be on the podium twice here in Austria,” said the South African sprint second on Saturday in the finish area.
For the 26-year-old “Pecco” Bagnaia it was the fifth success in the tenth race of the season, the 26th triumph in total and the 50th World Championship podium, for Ducati the eighth victory in Styria since the Red Bull Ring returned to the racing calendar in 2016. The second KTM rider, Jack Miller, didn’t get rolling at all on Sunday and following a good start he dropped back many positions to 15th place. Honda superstar Marc Marquez made it to the finish in a feature race for the first time this season, but the Spaniard had to settle for twelfth place.
Bagnaia extended his World Championship lead to 62 points at the halfway point in the season. “I don’t want to think regarding the World Championship. I know the potential is there and we have to stay focused at every race,” Bagnaia said. With 251 points, the defending champion and last year’s Spielberg winner is well ahead of his Ducati colleagues Jorge Martin (189), who finished seventh following a “long lap penalty” in the sprint, and Bezzecchi (183). As fourth in the World Cup, Binder now has 160 points.
“At the moment I’m a very happy person. It was a dream for us to end the home Grand Prix on the podium,” said KTM sports director Pit Beirer with satisfaction. “We’ve been working towards it for weeks and months, it was a great weekend. Brad put in an exceptional performance, that was the crowning glory.” Team manager Francesco Guidotti also praised Binder. “Brad fought like a lion, Pecco is just in top form,” said the Italian.
Unlike in the sprint, there was no serious crash in the Niki Lauda curve immediately following the start. Bagnaia and Binder pulled away from the rest of the field in front of onlooker Valentino Rossi, behind them Miller lost one place following the other. “It’s very disappointing. I struggled from the start with the lack of grip and corner exits,” said the Australian. An unspectacular race of 28 laps developed on the well-attended Red Bull Ring. Bagnaia drove home the victory in summery temperatures in front of Binder without any danger. With six laps to go, Bezzecchi passed Alex Marquez to secure the remaining podium spot.
In the smaller classes, KTM celebrated a dramatic one-two in Moto3. Turkey’s Deniz Öncü won following a photo finish by five thousandths of a second ahead of World Championship leader Daniel Holgado from Spain. The Japanese Ayumu Sasaki (Husqvarna) was still in the lead before the last corner and had to settle for third place. In Moto2, Spaniard Pedro Acosta, who already has a MotoGP contract with KTM in his pocket for next season, finished second, just missing out on another home win as Italian Celestino Vietti won.
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