MotoGP – Styrian GP roundup
Talk about drama! Just when you think you couldn’t top the first race at the Red Bull Ring, along comes the Styrian GP to prove you wrong.
Moto3 –
Celestino Vietti took his maiden podium at World Championship level with a masterful pulling of the pin, making Tony Arbolino’s Honda look a little slack as he checked out on the final lap. Ai Ogura took yet another podium, making a habit of it without getting onto the top step yet, something he will need to change to fight for the championship. Gabri Rodrigo finally managed to piece together a race from pole and came home 4th ahead of championship leader Albert Arenas. Arenas is still feeling the effects of his big Jerez crash, and will definitely welcome the upcoming break. Elsewhere, the Red Bull KTM Tech 3 pair of Deniz Oncu and Ayumu Sasaki had a large coming together, with Oncu coming off worst and earning a trip to the medical centre, though he was conscious. John McPhee was in the hunt for the win until a mistake on the penultimate lap sent him down the road, and lost him valuable championship points. Darryn Binder once again featured at the front, and came home a solid 6th.
Full results here.
Moto2 –
Big drama in Moto2, as Jorge Martin crossed the line first but then controversially had the win removed due to exceeding track limits. It seemed harsh, but by the letter of the law it was the correct decision. This promoted Marco Bezzecchi to his first ever Moto2 win after he stalked Martin all race after taking 2nd and forced the slight mistake that was the difference. Remy Gardner rounded out the podium with only his second appearance on the box, and extremely impressive ride putting him in the shop window. Tetsuta Nagashima finally got his season back on track with a solid 4th, and he was followed home by Tom Luthi who sorely needed the result. Luca Marini extended his championship lead over Enea Bastianini, though both struggled coming home 7th and 10th respectively. Petronas SRT had an excellent day with Vierge coming home 6th and Jake Dixon getting a career best 8th. Lorenzo Baldassarri continued to struggle, coming home 15th for a solitary point.
Full results here.
MotoGP –
Where do you start with MotoGP?! Miguel Oliviera made Portugal proud with a brilliant last corner pass to take his maiden win, reading what situation was going to develop before Jack Miller put a move on Pol Espargaro taking both riders wide and clearing the way for the Red Bull Tech 3 squad to take their first ever MotoGP class win. Tech 3 owner Herve Poncharal was on the verge of tears after trying to get a win for the past 20 years in the class. Miller and Espargaro both managed to get onto the podium, and Andrea Dovizioso took 4th. But perhaps the most unlucky man in Austria was Joan Mir. He was comfortably leading the race and was in control of his own destiny, before Maverick Vinales was involved in a terrifying incident where his brakes failed at 172mph. He was travelling at 140mph when he made the decision to abandon ship and the bike sent itself into the fence, utterly destroying the machine and bringing out the red flag. On the restart, Mir did not have a new tyre to put into the front of his machine, and therefore did not have the tools to fight at the front and slowly slipped back to 5th. Taka Nakagami was 2nd before the restart and he too fell back to a disappointing 7th. Brad Binder was 8th, and Iker Lecuona was 10th meaning for the first time ever, we had 4 KTM machines inside the top 10. Championship leader Fabio Quartararo was extremely unhappy and could only muster 13th, but he still does lead the championship. Johann Zarco also made the best of it, coming home 14th to get 2 valuable points just days after surgery and not riding Friday.
Full results here.
We now have a two week break before we go to Rimini for the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli double-header for the San Marino and Emilia Romagna GPs. Can the Yamaha boys get back on track, or will Ducati and KTM prove they are now the machine to be on?
Featured image- www.motogp.com
