Moto2: Bagnaia beats Oliveira in head-to-head scrap

Francesco Bagnaia kept his 100% record of winning when on pole at the Austrian GP after a sensational battle with main title rival Miguel Oliveira,  as it went all the way down to the final corner. Teammate Luca Marini secured third place at the Red Bull Ring in another last lap battle, as Alex Marquez crashed out on the final corner. The podium for Marini means it is the first time that Valentino Rossi’s Moto2 team has had back-to-back podiums with both riders on each one.

Bagnaia didn’t have an easy road to victory however, with contact being made between himself and Catalan GP winner, Fabio Quartararo. With Bagnaia staying 4th whilst Quartararo rejoining in 20th, it could’ve so easily been a disaster for the rider who was eager to take back the championship lead.

Bagnaia’s shenanigans left Miguel Oliveira with a 0.8 gap at the front over Jorge Navarro, who has been riding superb of late. Bagnaia recovered to third and in no time at all, the Italian would make his move past Navarro, and that’s exactly what he did on lap six to set his sights on the Portuguese rider out in front.

The gap hovered just below the one second barrier, before Bagnaia gained nearly half a second on the KTM rider at the mid stage of the race, with it soon becoming clear the Kalex machine had the better front grip.

Both Bagnaia and Oliveira were tied together and there was no move until Bagnaia got through at the penultimate corner on lap 21, only for Oliveira to snap straight back at the final corner – something that would prove to be seen once more on the final lap. At turn one with two laps to go, Bagnaia tried again but Oliveira and the KTM’s horsepower out-dragged the Italian down the straight to turn three. The gloves were well and truly off by this point!

Oliveira led until the penultimate corner when Bagnaia made his move, pushing the front end of the Sky VR46 Kalex to the limit. Again, the Red Bull KTM rider lunged back up the inside at the final corner in a desperate bid to give the home manufacturer a phenomenal finish but he couldn’t hold the inside line, with Bagnaia fighting back up the inside to force his way past to take the lead on the run to the line.

The drama didn’t stop there, with Alex Marquez crashing on the final lap at the final corner and making another mistake, after battling for the final podium place with Marini. Marini therefore inherited 3rd place and his third consecutive rostrum finish. Mattia Pasini was right in the hunt for the podium and showed signs of being his old self, eventually coming home in 4th, whilst Jorge Navarro secured his best result of his Moto2 career in fifth – his third consecutive top ten and first top five finish since Aragon in 2016 in Moto3.

Behind Navarro, Brad Binder continued his top ten run with 6th and the fastest lap. Marcel Schrotter was 7th ahead of rookie Joan Mir, who achieved his first win at the circuit in 2016 in Moto3. 9th place went to Fabio Quartararo and completing the top ten was Iker Lecuona.

Romano Fenati took his second point-scoring finish of the year in 11th, whilst Danny Kent achieved the same statistic in 12th, finishing as top Brit with Sam Lowes not finishing. Andrea Locatelli’s consistent point-scoring continued in 13th with Stefano Manzi not ruining the Austrian scenery by staying on his bike for 14th – also, his second point-scoring finish of the year. The last point went to Tetsuta Nagashima, somewhat deservedly as not only has he been in a good vein of form but for his heroic surfing in a wet FP2 session on Friday – the clip of which has gone viral.

Bagnaia retakes the lead of the championship by the slenderest of margins, with just three points separating him and Oliveira. Alex Marquez’s crash means he keeps 3rd but Brad Binder is now two points behind in 4th, with 111. Lorenzo Baldassarri’s crash at turn three was unfortunate for him but he remains 5th in the title race on 106 points, three ahead of Joan Mir in 6th.