![Prost International [PINT]](https://prostinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/PINTtFontLogoRoboto1536x78.jpg)
Jorge Martin clinched his maiden MotoGP victory as he took a stellar pole-to-flag win at the Styrian Grand Prix, ahead of Joan Mir and championship leader Fabio Quartararo.
Starting Grid
Lining up on pole position was Jorge Martin, the Spaniard set a record-breaking 1:22.994 time around the Red Bull Ring as he lined up alongside Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo in third.
On the second row, Jack Miller started ahead of Joan Mir and Pramac’s Johann Zarco with Ducati machinery in recent years going well at Spielberg.
It was a Spanish lock-out on row three as Aleix Espargaro started from seventh, with Marc Marquez in eighth ahead of Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales.
On row four, LCR Honda duo Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez started 10th and 11th respectively, with KTM’s Miguel Oliveira starting from 12th.
As It Happened
Off the line, pole-man Martin got a poor start along with his compatriot Marc Marquez. Bagnaia took the lead of the race into turn one, but up the hill and towards turn three, the duo was side by side with the leader, however, he retained the race lead.
Meanwhile, Marc Marquez made a bold move on Aleix Espargaro at turn one which frustrated the Aprilia rider as he was forced to sit up and concede the position.
Into turn seven, the six-time world champion dived up the inside of Quartararo getting himself up into fourth, and out of nowhere, Mir got up into second. Just two corners later, Vinales went up the inside of his teammate, but the quick-thinking Quartararo made an instant reply. Over the line at the end of the first lap, it was Bagnaia who led with Mir, Martin, Marc Marquez and Quartararo completing the top five.
On lap two, Mir and Martin battled through sector one, but the Suzuki ran deep into turn four allowing Marquez to jump up into third, but the Repsol Honda man also made a mistake allowing Quartararo to slot into third with the Spaniard dropping down to sixth.
At turn three of lap three, Dani Pedrosa crashed, and his stricken KTM bike was hit by Lorenzo Savadori. A fuel spillage caught alight and fire and liquid spilling all over the exit of turn three, leading to the red flag being waved with both riders walking from the crash unscathed.
Half an hour later, the race was restarted from the original grid positions with a new race distance of 27 laps. Ahead of the sighting lap at the restart, Vinales stalled on the grid so he was forced to start from the pit lane.
The lights went out and the Ducati riders got great launches as Miller led into turn one, but his teammate Bagnaia went cautious into the first corner and fell down the pack.
Marc Marquez and Aleix Espargaro collided once again at turn one, but luckily both riders could continue with their race.
Mir and Martin battled for second down the straight through turn two, a battle the Pramac man came out on top of.
Marc Marquez’s race was ruined as he ran deep at turn one and fell down to 14th. Meanwhile, Mir slotted himself into second ahead of Martin.
On the next lap, it was the Pramac rider who got back into second just corners later as he utilised the slingshot out of turn two as he slotted himself up the inside of Mir at turn three.
Martin mirrored this move a lap later as he blasted past Miller into the lead of the race. The new leader’s teammate Zarco tried a similar move on his title rival Quartararo, but the Yamaha rider defended well into turn three.
On lap five, Mir dived up the inside of Miller at turn one which got the Suzuki man into second place.
Two laps later, Quartararo leapfrogged Miller into the podium places at turn three, but the Aussie wouldn’t back down as he reclaimed third place. The Frenchman made an instant reply as he snuck up the inside of Miller at turn six getting back into third and making it stick.
Bagnaia’s afternoon went from bad to worse, as he continued to fall down the pack as the Italian ran in 11th.
The race calmed down for five laps before Miller started to close in on Quartararo with just over 10 laps to go.
Miller ran at a comfortable distance from the Frenchman and looked set to make an imminent move, however, the Ducati man ran slightly off-line at turn seven and lost the front and seeing his podium hopes tumble through the gravel trap.
From then on in, Martin pulled away from Mir on course to claiming his maiden MotoGP victory in only his 10th race in the class, ahead of Mir and Quartararo, who had a lonely last dozen of laps, eventually coming home in third.
Meanwhile on the final lap, Brad Binder got himself into fourth as he picked off Zarco and Nakagami respectively both on lap 27 with the Pramac riding Frenchman falling to sixth behind Nakagami.
Rounding out the points scorers were Alex Rins, Alex Marquez, Pedrosa, Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini, Valentino Rossi, followed by his half-brother Luca Marini.
In the championship, Quartararo extends his lead to 37 points ahead of Zarco. Mir’s podium finish promotes him to third in the standings in front of Bagnaia.
What’s Next?
MotoGP stays put at the Red Bull Ring ahead of next weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix where Martin will hope to build on his first victory in the sport, with Factory Ducati duo Miller and Bagnaia hoping to make amends for a disappointing Styrian Grand Prix weekend.
Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt
[columns]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”105″ heading=”Other Sports” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”1072″ heading=”News” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[/columns]
