Francesco Bagnaia took a comfortable MotoGP sprint win in Austrian GP from Brad Binder and Jorge Martin after Lap 1 chaos.
It was a clean start to the MotoGP sprint in Austrian GP at the front with Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia leading from KTM pair of Brad Binder and Jack Miller, but there was chaos behind. Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales had a slow start to drop down the order.
Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin tried a move on the inside but had a contact with Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo who had Pramac’s Johann Zarco, Ducati’s Enea Bastianini, Vinales, RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira and VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi around him.
While Quartararo, Vinales and Bastianini managed to continue on despite dropping the order, Bezzecchi, Zarco and Oliveira were forced to retire from the race. The chain reaction seemingly started from Martin continued on too, but the incident will be investigated.
It was Bagnaia leading from Binder and Miller, with VR46’s Luca Marini up in fourth from Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez, Martin, GASGAS Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Honda’s Marc Marquez in the Top 9 points places.
There was another one to crash out with LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami falling and also Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori. With Bagnaia leading from Binder, it was Miller in a sport of bother from Marini, Martin and Marquez for third spot.
The Australian did lose out to Marini and Martin and while they started their fight for third, Martin went for the inside line on Marini and a small contact led to the Italian crashing out. The incident was put under investigation and they cleared Martin from it.
Martin was third from Marquez who cleared Miller as P Espargaro held off A Espargaro for sixth. Vinales was on a recovery mode as he found his way up to eighth from Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli who also was up to ninth from Marquez.
There was a Long Gap Penalty for Quartararo after trying to pass Savadori who crashed out as a result of the tap from him. There was also a Long Gap Penalty for Tech 3’s Augusto Fernandez. At the front, Bagnaia had a comfortable time from Binder.
He secured the MotoGP sprint win in Austrian GP as Martin was third from Marquez. Behind him, Miller held on to fifth from P Espargaro, A Espargaro and Vinales, while Morbidelli securing the final point from Marquez in the Top 10.
https://twitter.com/MotoGP/status/1692893896257212880?s=20
UPDATE: Martin has been handed a Long Gap Penalty for the Turn 1 incident by the stewards for Sunday’s Austrian GP.
https://twitter.com/MotoGP/status/1692950860932821074?s=20
