The Italian won on Saturday in Spielberg ahead of Spanish pole-setter Jorge Martin, meaning the two Ducati riders have the same number of points ahead of the main race on Sunday (2 p.m./live ServusTV and Sky). Motorcycle superstar Marc Marquez crashed shortly before the end while in second place and missed out on a podium place.
Bagnaia celebrated more successes this year than his World Championship rival, meaning that the Spielberg winner of the past two years is ranked higher before the showdown on Sunday. Third place in the sprint went to Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro, while the KTM riders missed the podium, unlike last year. Jack Miller finished fifth, as in qualifying, and Brad Binder improved by five positions to seventh. Pol Espargaro, who received a KTM wildcard, finished ninth, just ahead of KTM super talent Pedro Acosta, who had not managed to get past 14th place in qualifying.
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In the short 14-lap race, Bagnaia, who had started in second position, overtook Martin in the starting phase. Marquez was behind him, the eight-time motorcycle world champion initially the only one who could keep up with his two Ducati colleagues. Martin received a so-called long-lap penalty for taking a shortcut, which meant he had to line up behind Marquez. However, Marquez crashed five laps before the end and did not finish as a result.
In qualifying a few hours earlier, Martin had achieved the fastest lap ever completed on a motorcycle at the Red Bull Ring in 1:27.748 minutes. The Spaniard beat Bagnaia’s previous record (+0.141 seconds) by almost eight tenths of a second.
