Austrian MotoGP Race Results | Bagnaia wins again, Quartararo extends lead

Pecco Bagnaia consolidated his status as the current form man of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship with a commanding victory in the Austrian MotoGP as Ducati filled four of the top five positions at the Red Bull Ring.

A fifth win of the season for the Italian, Bagnaia’s victory is also his third in successive races, a rich vein of form that has allowed him to move onto the tail of Aleix Espargaro for status as Fabio Quartararo’s lead title rival.

Even so, Quartararo limited the damage to Bagnaia’s gathering momentum in the standings with a superb ascent up the order to second position, a result amplified by Espargaro finishing a distant sixth.

With Ducati coming into the race as hot favourites after filling five of the top six positions on the grid in qualifying, Enea Bastianini led them off from a maiden pole position but it was Bagnaia that would beat him to the hole-shot in the drag uphill to turn one.

Leading a Ducati 1-2-3-4, Bagnaia was initially chased by Bastianini, Miller and Martin, before the front pack was fractured on Lap 6 by Bastianini retiring after running off track twice with suspected wheel damage.

With the slowing Bastianini catching out Martin at Turn 3, the delay allowed Bagnaia and Miller to escape into the lead pair, momentum the Australian carried through to a brief rally for the lead on Lap 7 at Turn 9. 

However, Bagnaia was wise to Miller’s advances and swiftly retook the position, the Italian continuing to dictate the pace for a time before putting the hammer down at the half-way point to put some air between himself and his team-mate.

It was the margin he needed to break the tow, allowing Bagnaia to complete the second-half of the race without coming under significant pressure. 

Taking the flag for his fifth win in eight races, the excellent result is likely to shine a harsh spotlight on the costly DNFs at the other three events that have hobbled his title bid. Despite this, the victory brings the gap to the top down yet further, with 44 points now the margin between himself and Quartararo.

Behind Bagnaia, the battle for second position raged on with Quartararo launching a gritty fightback to the podium after losing ground to the Ducati riders out front during the initial laps.

Picking off Martin for third at the hairpin after profiting from the Spaniard out-braking himself and taking to the escape road at the new chicane, Quartararo proceeded to hunt down Miller in second before executing a magnificent pass for position at chicane left-hander.

An above expectations result for the reigning champion given Ducati’s stronghold in Austria, it allowed him to take a significant stride towards back-to-back titles with his lead over Espargaro now 32 points.

With Miller unable to respond to Quartararo’s pass, he came under threat from fellow Ducati rider Martin but the Spaniard’s attempts at an inside pass around Turn 1 on the final lap ended with him folding the front and sliding off track.

As a result, Miller clicked off his third podium in four races, ahead of another stablemate in Luca Marini, who produced a superb ride from 13th on the grid to secure his best-ever result in MotoGP of fourth.

Johann Zarco paid for a poor start that left him down the order early on, the Frenchman fighting back to fifth place, ahead of Espargaro, who after a bright start appeared as one of the handful of riders struggling with brake issues as he crossed the line a distant sixth.

A winner at the Red Bull Ring in 2021, Brad Binder came home a respectable seventh at KTM’s home event, ahead of Alex Rins, whose eighth place came after team-mate Joan Mir tumbled out at Turn 4 on the opening lap.

Marco Bezzecchi and the remounted Martin completed the top ten, the latter possibly dealing his chances of securing the factory Ducati seat over Bastianini a major blow.

Fabio di Giannantonio, Miguel Oliveira, Maverick Vinales - who ran inside the top six early on before braking issues - Alex Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso in his penultimate outing, completed the points’ paying positions.

2022 Austrian MotoGP | Red Bull Ring | Race RESULTS | Round 13 / 21