SPIELBERG, Austria — Twice MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia won the Austrian Grand Prix to complete a weekend double and go five points clear at the top of the world championship, taking the chequered flag ahead of his rival Jorge Martin.
The Italian Ducati rider, who qualified second on the grid after dominating practice and winning the sprint, overtook Prima Pramac Racing’s Martin on the second lap.
Having smashed the lap record to take pole position at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Martin finished second. Enea Bastianini came third to complete an all-Ducati podium, Reuters reported.
Martin, who went into the weekend atop the riders’ standings, had to settle for second with Enea Bastianini completing the podium at the RedBullRing circuit.
This was the Turin-born Bagnaia’s seventh race success of the season to match his tally from last season with still nine races remaining.
That is a sobering thought for Martin who has a better sprint record than Bagnaia but when it comes to the main event it is Bagnaia who invariably comes out on top.
“Our pace was incredible,” said the race winner according to AFP.
“I knew over the last laps anything could happen so I’m very happy to win three times here,” added Bagnaia, referring to the circuit that is KTM’s home, but Ducati’s back yard with the Italian team winning here in eight of the past nine years.
Martin said: “I would have preferred a better start, but we were super close. He (Bagnaia) pulled away but at the end of the race I tried again to push. Second was not what I expected.”
Martin had no complaints unlike 24 hours later when a long lap penalty severely compromised his chances of denying Bagnaia the top of the podium with the gap between them less than five seconds.
There was no similar hard luck story in this 11th round of the season.
Martin had secured pole but second-placed Bagnaia had quickly moved into the lead as his new teammate next season, Marc Marquez suffered a nightmare grid getaway.
Setting off on the front row in third the six-time former MotoGP champion had plummeted to 13th by the first corner after a tangle with Franco Morbidelli.
Up front Martin kept closes tabs with Bagnaia on the factory Ducati in the early laps, at one point briefly regaining command.
But this circuit plays into the hands of a rider like Bagnaia who is renowned for his fearless late-breaking going into corners at speeds of 300kmh plus and he soon had the measure of the luckless Spaniard riding a Ducati-satellite Pramac bike.
The front three – Bagnaia, Martin and Bastianini – were pulling clear of the chasing pack led by Jack Miller.
Miller’s chance of one of his highest finishes of the season disappeared on lap six when the Australian hit the deck.
By lap 15 Bagnaia was turning on the gas with the gap back to Martin nudging one second.
Marquez had been quietly picking off the bikes in front of him and making his way up the field to be placed fourth after the midway point in the 26-lap race.
With rain clouds moving inexorably towards the circuit as per the forecasters’ prediction Bagnaia’s cushion over Martin had grown towards the double-second mark with nine laps remaining.
And he never looked like relinquishing his advantage to duly secure his eighth podium on the trot.
That left Martin scratching his head as to just what he needs to do to foil Bagnaia getting his hands on a third straight world title come the final race of the season in Valencia in November.
Next up though is the Aragon MotoGP in Spain in a fortnight’s time which returns to the MotoGP calendar after a one-year absence
There was no stopping Bagnaia once he had clear road ahead of him as Martín struggled to match his pace.
Bagnaia crossed the finish line well ahead of the chasing pack to win his third consecutive Austrian Grand Prix.
