MotoGP: Francesco Bagnaia wins the Spielberg Sprint

Francesco Baganaia wins the MotoGP Sprint and extends his Championship lead.

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) was on pole position for the Sprint race, alongside Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing). Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) rounded out the front row, pleasing the Austrian fans.

At the start, it was Francesco Bagnaia who led the field through the first corner of the 14-lap race. Maverick Vinales had an awful start dropping down to the middle of the pack, onboard the Aprilia.

In the middle of the pack, there was a huge crash involving Jorge Martin, Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Quartararo, Enea Bastianini, and Maverick Vinales. This crash created huge gaps and took out some Championship and race contenders.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda INDEMITSU) had his own incident later in the race, crashing out of the race on the first lap.

Francesco Bagnaia led the way from Brad Binder and his teammate Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). The two riders at the front began to create a gap from the fighting pack behind.

Jack Miller was under pressure from Luca Marini and Jorge Martin with both riders looking strong in the early stages. Martin had another collision with eight laps to go, taking out Luca Marini – in front of Valentino Rossi who was watching at the chicane.

Fabio Quartararo’s race went from bad to worse, receiving a long-lap penalty from the FIM stewards. Quartararo received the penalty for making contact with Aprilia’s test rider, Lorenzo Savadori.

Pol Espargaro (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3)  had an excellent ride, as he continues to make his comeback to Grand Prix racing. Pol was ahead of his brother Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) who struggled, after qualifying in 11^th.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was the top Honda with the eight-time World Champion finally inside the top 10. Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) was down in 12^th – continuing to struggle.

Bagnaia made no mistakes and wins the MotoGP Sprint

Francesco Bagnaia continued an incredible and dominant ride, and throughout the whole race showed no weaknesses. At the line, the Italian came across to win another race this season. Bagnaia also extends his gap to 46 points.

Brad Binder came home in second after a lonely race at KTM’s home Grand Prix, finishing under two seconds from Bagnaia. Jorge Martin was in third after a controversial Sprint race for the Spaniard.

Last round’s Sprint winner, Alex Marquez was in fourth, ahead of Jack Miller who dropped out of the podium fight after a mistake early on. Pol Espargaro ended the race in front of his brother Aleix, with Maverick Vinales rounding out the top eight.

Speaking about the win, Bagnaia said: “I’m very happy with how things went today; I knew how important it was to be in front at the first corner because it’s always a mess being behind at this track. I just tried to do my best and then pushed like hell to remain in front.

“Sincerely I was expecting my rivals to be stronger. We made a slight change for the race from qualifying, and in any case, it went perfectly.”

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Image credit: Ducati Media