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
