Bagnaia wins Austrian GP to solidify MotoGP title lead

Ducati and Francesco Bagnaia continue to dominate in MotoGP, as the reigning world champion won both, the Sprint and feature races in Austria. Last year’s victor, Brad Binder, finished second and Bagnaia’s VR46 Academy stablemate, Marco Bezzecchi finished third after overtaking Alex Marquez in the closing stages of the race.

1. Bagnaia wins, 5.191 secs ahead of Binder
2. Bagnaia leads championship by 62 points
3. Bezzecchi overtakes Marquez for P3

Bagnaia puts on dominant display in Austria

Once Bagnaia broke away from his closest trailing rival Binder, he put the hammer down and finished the race a full 5 seconds ahead of the South African.

Bagnaia and Binder were first and second, respectively, for much of the race. Marquez, who was in third place for much of the Austrian GP, was also quickly passed by Luca Marini. Ultimately, the Spaniard finished in fifth.

Aprilia unable to replicate British GP performance

Maverick Vinales, who qualified second, finished in sixth place. After getting an average start, he was swallowed up by a whole gaggle of fast-charging riders from behind him and dropped outside the top 10 in the opening laps. He then started to make his way through the order, but wasn’t able to challenge the podium places.

Aleix Espargaro, who won the British GP, finished ninth, just behind Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.

KTM’s contrasting fortunes

As we have seen multiple times before this season, Jack Miller got a lightning start and was in the leading pack for the opening laps, but then dropped down the order as the race progressed. While he qualified fourth, the sole Australian on the grid ended up finishing P15, claiming the last available championship point.

Marc Marquez scores first Sunday points

The Austrian GP marked the first time this season that Marc Marquez finished a feature-length race and took home some points on Sunday. This race saw Honda debut its new aero package, which also has inputs from HRC’s F1 division.

The other Repsol Honda rider, Joan Mir, crashed out yet again and is yet to finish a full-length race since the season opener at Portimao.

2023 MotoGP championship standings

Currently, holding a 62-point lead in the MotoGP world championship, Francesco Bagnaia looks all set to defend his title for another year. Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi, second and third, respectively, themselves are separated by just six points and are his closest threats.

MotoGP will now head to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on September 1-3.

2023 Austrian MotoGP results