Jorge Martin claimed an unlikely victory in the Austrian Grand Prix sprint after Pedro Acosta crashed out of the lead with three laps to run.
Acosta appeared on course to win in front of KTM’s home crowd on Saturday, having capitalised on an early battle between Martin and Marc Marquez to seize the lead on the opening lap.
The 22-year-old was leading by almost three seconds when he dumped his KTM at Turn 2 on lap 12 of 14, handing Martin – who finished the opening lap in eighth – victory at the Red Bull Ring.
At the start of the race, Martin pulled away cleanly from pole position but ran too deep into Turn 1, leaving him under serious pressure from Marquez at the following straight.
The two championship rivals came to blows at Turn 2, with Marquez surging to the lead as Martin ran out of road and plummeted down the order.
Acosta was also a big gainer from the incident, recovering to second place after dropping behind Marco Bezzecchi to fourth at the start.
Going into Turn 3, Marquez missed his braking point by a fraction, with Acosta sending his KTM up the inside to hit the front.
Once in the lead, Acosta quickly extended his advantage, pulling out a lead of a second in just three laps.
Meanwhile, Martin was on the move, picking off his rivals one after the other. On lap 7, he passed his team-mate Bezzecchi to move into podium position, before forcing Marquez wide at the start of the following tour to move back up to second.
At this stage, Acosta had a comfortable advantage of 2.5s, with Martin unable to make any headways into his lead.
But with the victory seemingly on the horizon, Acosta made a rare error heading into Turn 2 and hit the deck, handing Martin a surprise victory.
The 2024 champion took the chequered flag a full second clear of Marquez, retaking the championship lead by three points.
Bezzecchi completed the podium on the other factory Aprilia after closing in on Marquez in the latter stages of the race.
Returning to action this weekend after a two-race layoff, Ai Ogura crossed the finish line in fourth on the Trackhouse Aprilia, beating the Gresini Ducati of Alex Marquez.
Francesco Bagnaia scored his first points since the summer break with a solid ride to sixth on the factory Ducati, with Johann Zarco (LCR), Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini) and Fabio di Giannantonio completing the points scorers.
No Yamaha rider finished inside the top 10, with Fabio Quartararo only managing 12th on the factory M1.
Just two riders failed to make it to the finish, with VR46’s Franco Morbidelli joining Acosta in the list of retirees. The latter was able to remount his KTM following his crash, but had to pull his hobbled bike into the pits shortly afterwards.
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
Read the full article here
