Moto3: Vietti Defeats Arbolino to Take First GP Win

In contrast to the bright sunshine of the first two days of the Styrian Grand Prix, race day presented the Moto3 World Championship with overcast skies, although the race remained dry throughout. 

Gabriel Rodrigo made the holeshot, although it was Tony Arbolino who dominated the early stages of the race. In fact, Arbolino was strong from start-to-finish, carrying good corner speed and having a fast bike in the straight helping the #14 maintain the lead for the majority of the race.

As always, the lead group was a large one in Austria, but there were splits that occurred. Originally, the front group was 12-strong, but a crash between the two Red Bull KTM Tech 3 riders, Ayumu Sasaki and Deniz Oncu, split the pack. The blame for that crash was quite easy to aportion, Oncu losing control in the braking zone for turn one and collecting an unaware Sasaki. However, more concerning was the fact that Oncu had to be carried away on a stretcher, although there is currently no confirmation on the Turkish rider’s condition. 

That crash left four riders at the front, with Tony Arbolino leading and Celestino Vietti, Ai Ogura and John McPhee. 

Gabriel Rodrigo and Albert Arenas were able to bring the chasing group up to the back of the leading four by the beginning of the penultimate lap, by which point Vietti had taken the lead from Arbolino. 

Both Ogura and Arbolino tried to pass Vietti into turn three, but the #13 pushed Arbolino wide on corner entry and Ogura missed the corner, allowing the Sky Racing Team VR46 rider to cut back on the inside on corner exit. 

This would prove to be the break Vietti needed, and from this point only Arbolino could go with him. Arbolino was faster in the straights, but Vietti had the advantage on corner entry. Critically, Vietti made it through the first two sectors, dominated by straights, ahead of Arbolino, but the #14 was able to home in on his compatriot through the fast, sweeping turns six and seven. Arbolino had the run on Vietti towards turn nine, but the #13 covered the inside line off, and was able to out-brake the Rivacold Snipers Team rider around the outside into turn nine.

Crucially, Vietti did not run wide on the exit of nine, and Arbolino could not be close enough into the final corner to launch an assault, and mistake from the Honda rider would cost him a chance to out-drag Vietti to the line as he had a moment on the front at the apex of turn 10. 

That allowed Vietti to claim his first win in Grand Prix racing, his second top three result of the season. Thankfully, the Italian made a more traditional choice of celebration on the podium and saved himself some stitches after the debacle of the Andalusian Grand Prix, and the first 25-point haul of his World Championship career moved him into fourth in the championship, 40 points behind the championship leader. 

Arbolino, whilst unable to win, was able to take his first podium since round two at the Spanish Grand Prix. After finishing outside of the top six in the three races since that Spanish podium, it was a good response from the #14, who will hope to continue the momentum in Misano in a few weeks.

Despite all the fighting, Ai Ogura held onto third place and was only one second adrift of the win by the end. Crucially for Ogura, he beat his championship rival, Albert Arenas, for the first time this season, closing the gap in the championship to 25 points, precisely one race win. Ogura is of course still without a win at the World Championship level, but this is the first time the championship momentum has moved back in his direction this season. 

Gabriel Rodrigo took a season-best result of fourth place, finally making a strong qualifying result translate into a big points haul in 2020. The Argentine finished just ahead of championship leader Arenas, who was relatively invisible – by his standards – for almost the whole race, coming through at the end for a top five that could be important for the championship. 

Darryn Binder completed the top six, proving that qualifying position has zero effect on his race result. The South African qualified 22nd last week and finished sixth, and this weekend he achieved the same result in the race from 10th on the grid. Behind Binder was Tatsuki Suzuki, who has been unable to rediscover his form from Jerez since that victory in the Andalusian Grand Prix; Raul Fernandez in eighth having suffered with straight line speed; Stefano Nepa who took his best result of the season in ninth; and Sergio Garcia who completed the top 10. 

Dennis Foggia was better in Styria than Austria, but still could not match his Brno form, finishing in 11th. The Italian was followed across the line by Filip Salac, Andrea Migno, Jaume Masia and Ryusei Yamanaka who came from 27th on the grid to score the final point. 

Niccolo Antonelli’s struggles continue, the Italian managing only 16th place, finishing ahead of fellow struggling Italian Romano Fenati, the rookies Barry Baltus and Jason Dupasquier and the second Max Racing Team Husqvarna of Alonso Lopez who completed the top 20. 

Carlos Tatay was 21st, ahead of Yuki Kunii, Davide Pizzoli, Maximilian Kofler and Kaito Toba who crashed on the final lap and crossed the line 25th. 

Aside from the Red Bull KTM Tech 3 riders, the retirements were Riccardo Rossi, Jeremy Alcoba and John McPhee, whose championship hopes took a hit when he crashed at turn nine on the penultimate lap.