MotoGP: Francesco Bagnaia dominates the Austrian Grand Prix

Francesco Bagnaia dominates the Austrian Grand Prix for Ducati and extends his lead to 62 points.

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) was on pole position for Austrian Grand Prix, alongside Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing). Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) rounded out the front row, hoping to close the gap on Bagnaia.

Francesco Bagnaia had an incredible launch, leading the field through the first lap of the race. Brad Binder was in second and instantly looked from a way into the race lead on lap one.

Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) jumped into third position in the opening lap of the race. Maverick Vinales dropped from third to 11^th on the first lap after getting swallowed by the pack.

Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) soon made the move for third after an incredibly aggressive start to his race. Fellow Ducati, Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) took his long lap penalty early, dropping down to 11^th.

Miguel Oliveira’s (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team)  bad luck streak continued with the Portuguese rider retiring from the race. Oliveira’s front balancing weights fell off the front wheel, causing vibrations through the machine. The CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team had a one-off new livery for this weekend, which was Barbie themed.

Francesco Bagnaia at the front of the race began to stretch a gap to over one second at the front. Binder looked to struggle with his tyres after spending the opening stage of the race behind Bagnaia, potentially overheating his tyre.

Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) was the first crasher of the Grand Prix, losing the front on the entry to turn three. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was inside of the points, having his strongest race of the year.

Yamaha makes a step in the right direction

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) continued to have a stronger weekend and battled for ninth position. Quartararo had new aero this weekend on his Yamaha, which looked to be a step in the right direction.

All eyes were on the battle for the final podium position between Alex Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team). The two riders battling for the podium position, allowed Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) to add to the battle.

With less than 10 laps remaining Bezzecchi made the move for third and began to clear off into the distance. Marini would soon find his way on Alex Marquez, dropping the Spaniard down to fifth position.

Francesco Bagnaia extended his gap to over five seconds across the race and once again made no mistakes. He came across the line to win the race by five seconds from Brad Binder in second. Marco Bezzecchi came home in third after having the pace over his teammate, Luca Marini.

Marini finished the race in fourth position, beating Alex Marquez in fifth after a last-lap battle. Maverick Vinales finished ahead of Jorge Martin who finished in seventh after his long lap penalty. Fabio Quartararo finished one of his strongest races in recent weekends, finishing in eighth.

Aleix Espargaro was in ninth position, ending the race ahead of Enea Bastianini who claimed his best result of the season. Marc Marquez ended the race in 12^th and finished his first race of the season.

Riders will be back in action on the 1-3 of September from round 11 of the MotoGP World Championship at Catalunya.

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Image credit: Ducati Media