MotoGP Austrian GP: Bagnaia wins sprint after Martin penalty, Marquez crashes out

An early mistake for Martin at Spielberg means he and Bagnaia are now tied at the top of the points table

Francesco Bagnaia put himself level with Jorge Martin in the MotoGP points standings with victory in the sprint race for the Austrian Grand Prix, while a crash cost Marc Marquez a likely podium finish.

The two title protagonists appeared set for an epic duel in Saturday’s half-distance race at Spielberg, but a penalty for cutting the chicane at Turn 2 left Martin out of the picture and allowed Bagnaia to cruise to a comfortable victory.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro claimed the final spot on the rostrum, benefitting from a crash for Gresini rider Marquez with four laps to run.

At the start of the sprint, factory Ducati rider Bagnaia got the holeshot from second on the grid to snatch the lead into Turn 1, but Martin fired back immediately at Turn 3 to put himself back in front.

The decisive moment of the race came on lap 2 when Martin came in too hot at Turn 2 and had to take to the run-off area, handing the advantage back to Bagnaia.

Although the Pramac rider did slow down and slot in behind the two-time champion, the stewards claimed that he didn’t drop a second behind as required by the regulations, handing him a costly long-lap penalty.

Martin finally took the loop located at the exit of Turn 1 on lap 8 of 14, dropping to third in the order behind Marquez and just fractionally ahead of Espargaro.

With Marquez unable to close the gap to Bagnaia and eventually crashing at Turn 3 on lap 10, the Italian rider was able to run away and sprint to a 4.67s victory, his third in a sprint race in 2024.

The fall for Marquez allowed Martin to move back up to second and put both riders exactly on 250 points ahead of Sunday’s grand prix.

Espargaro took a strong third for Aprilia despite lacking the pace to keep up with Martin, while Enea Bastianini again displayed impressive late-race speed to climb from ninth on the grid to take fourth on the factory Ducati.

Jack Miller scored an encouraging fifth place result on the best of the KTMs ahead of Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli, who was forced wide at Turn 1 when being overtaken by Bastianini.

Apart from Miller, three more KTMs finished the top 10, as team-mate Brad Binder took seventh, wildcard rider Pol Espargaro crossed the line in ninth and Tech3’s Pedro Acosta just missed out on points in 10th.They were separated by Marco Bezzecchi in eighth on the only remaining VR46 Ducati.

A disastrous start for Maverick Vinales on the factory Aprilias consigned him to 11th at the finish, just ahead of Fabio Quartararo on the best of the Yamahas.

Honda’s charge was led by LCR rider Johann Zarco in 15th place.

MotoGP Austrian GP: Sprint results

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1	Ducati	14	20'59.768		173.9		12
2	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89	Ducati	14	+4.673 21'04.441	4.673	173.3		9
3	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41	Aprilia	14	+7.584 21'07.352	2.911	172.9		7
4	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	14	+9.685 21'09.453	2.101	172.6		6
5	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	14	+10.421 21'10.189	0.736	172.5		5
6	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21	Ducati	14	+10.523 21'10.291	0.102	172.5		4
7	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	14	+10.941 21'10.709	0.418	172.4		3
8	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	14	+11.932 21'11.700	0.991	172.3		2
9	P. Espargaro Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	44	KTM	14	+15.101 21'14.869	3.169	171.8		1
10	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	14	+16.611 21'16.379	1.510	171.6
11	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12	Aprilia	14	+16.759 21'16.527	0.148	171.6
12	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	14	+17.943 21'17.711	1.184	171.5
13	M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team	88	Aprilia	14	+18.304 21'18.072	0.361	171.4
14	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	14	+19.185 21'18.953	0.881	171.3
15	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	14	+21.330 21'21.098	2.145	171.0
16	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30	Honda	14	+22.940 21'22.708	1.610	170.8
17	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10	Honda	14	+25.830 21'25.598	2.890	170.4
18	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	14	+26.622 21'26.390	0.792	170.3
19	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36	Honda	14	+27.458 21'27.226	0.836	170.2
20	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	14	+37.870 21'37.638	10.412	168.8
dnf	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37	KTM	11	+3 Laps 17'07.833	3 Laps	167.5	Retirement
dnf	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	10	+4 Laps 15'37.882	1 Lap	166.8	Retirement
dnf	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93	Ducati	10	+4 Laps 15'46.728	8.846	165.3	Retirement
dnf	S. Bradl HRC Test Team	6	Honda	5	+9 Laps 8'07.794	5 Laps	160.4	Retirement
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