Bagnaia still standing: Fifth win of the year

The Italian Pecco Bagnaia constantly deducting points from his rivals to him third consecutive victory and fifth year, all of his 2022 podium wins, but this Sunday at the Red Bull Ring the points winner was Fabio Quartararo that on a day of the Austrian Grand Prix that was supposed to be the Ducati Cup, he finished second by successfully overtaking at the new chicane the second Ducati, Jack Miller, who completed the podium after Jorge Martín crashed on the ground when he tried to score the third box at the beginning of the last turn.

Quartararo increased the distance at the front of the table with 32 points to Aleix Espargaró, who was sixth with problems at the end due to the choice of soft rubber at the rear, and Pecco Bagnaia was already behind on 44 points, who in the last three races have deducted 47 points from him in the ‘Devil’.

It’s not Bastianini’s day yet

Enea Bastianini has yet to see himself on a grid and already has three MotoGP victories this year at Losail, Austin and Le Mans from the Gresini Racing range. He has to prove it from the post. But it wasn’t his day due to a chipped rim that put him out of the race with six laps to go.

First, he gave the initiative to Pecco Bagnaia and Miller and Martín joined them for a planned Ducati quartet. Quartararo retained fifth place, the worst news for his aspirations, followed by Viñales who passed him at the start of the second lap to try to stick to the four Ducatis who were already encouraging a breakaway and ‘annoy him’ so that his teammate that Espargaró could come.

Aleix lost places with respect to his ninth place on the grid -including a scare due to the wrong place and which he corrected in time- but by three laps he had placed himself behind Quartararo, yet -six and seven. The first discarded after covering only four curves of the race became the champion in 2020 and second last year in the first of the Red Bull Ring races Joan Mir in a year to forget the one from Palma de Mallorca that flew when very high and fell on the weight on the gravel and ended up in the medical center with a possible leg injury.

Choosing tires different from the rest of the Ducati (double soft for Enea, soft-medium for the Ducati officials and hard-medium for Martín) Bagnaia and Miller overcame it and the battle was with Jorge Martín who became causing the two officers to catch a few tenths

Bastianini out of the race

But on the sixth lap, Enea Bastianini was out of the race due to a technical problem – the soft front tire was off-rim – which, before his repeated trips off the track due to loss of tire pressure, had overtaken Quartararo for fourth place.

The three Ducatis stayed ahead and had more than 1″ over Quartararo and the two Aprilias, who were chased by the Ducati of Marini and Zarco. Miller, who next year will be a Red Bull KTM rider, began to push the Italian and behind them the danger was Jorge Martín, winner from the pole of the first of the two Austrian races last year.

Fabio after three Ducatis

But far from judgement, Fabio Quartararo has arrived with Ducati in the middle of the race after releasing Aleix Espargaró in 1″5 who has already remained in no man’s land in search of that top-5 as a prize to minimize the damage while he was recovering from legs injured in a massive crash at Silverstone. 12 minutes from the finish, Jorge Martín lost third place to Quartararo when he slipped in the chicane at number 2 and when he rejoined the track he had to give him room to Not to punish. At that time there was a lot of movement in the pitlane preparing the second bikes for a possible flag to flag which ultimately did not happen.

Bagnaia changed the rhythm and ran away

Bagnaia changed the rhythm and in two laps he put 9 tenths on his teammate Miller who was already harassed by Quartararo as Marini did on Aleix who passed him eight from the end for that top-5. The problem for him was that the soft rear tire fell and Zarco could already see it following him, passing him four from the end, falling to seventh place.

The downfall of Jorge Martin

Bagnaia has already gained more than 1″ confirming his third victory in a row and fifth of the year and Quartararo lost no time behind the Australian and overtook him with a good Yamaha overtake at the new chicane and Martín also almost overtook the bewildered Miller who did not expect the artwork there. Looking for the third box on the last lap, Jorge Martín fell to the ground in turn 1 when trying to pass Miller, who had already taken third box. Aleix Espargaró suffered damage with sixth, but Quartararo escaped him on 32 points and Bagnaia came close to him on 12 points.

As for the other Spaniards, Alex Rins was eighth, Jorge Martín tenth, Maverick Viñales 13th, Alex Márquez 14th, Pol Espargaró 16th and Raúl Fernández 18th. Joan Mir fell dangerously on the first lap and an injury is suspected.