BacelonaJust over 26,000 spectators have experienced the first race of Valentino Rossi at the Styria Grand Prix after announcing his retirement, the return of Dani Pedrosa and the first victory of Jorge Martín. Marc Márquez finished the race in eighth place – just behind Àlex Rins – after having a double fight on the bike with Aleix Espargaró, who was unable to finish the Grand Prix. Under the threat of impending rain, the exit has been frantic but irrelevant.
Joan Mir from the fifth position has made some very good first meters outside and has managed to climb positions ahead of the two Yamahas. Aleix Espargaró and Marc Márquez, who came out just behind Suzuki’s, pressed the gas from the start and starred in a fast-paced duel – and dangerous at certain points along the route. The Cervera has taken advantage of the minimum space to sneak inside and shake the Aprilia and make the Granollers driver angry. After three complete turns, everything has been in vain. An accident between Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) and Dani Pedrosa – who is returning to the World Championship as a KTM tester – has set fire to both bikes on turn three of the circuit. The two riders have emerged from the flames, and the red flag has flown in the Red Bull Ring. Thirty minutes later, a new race has started at 27 laps.
The second outing has been pretty much the same as the first. Again, Márquez touched Aleix, but this time the Aprilia rider came out much worse. And, if the touches with Márquez were not enough, in the sixth lap Espargaró had to leave the race after a fall, and left the Aprilia without any runners in this race. The most affected by the new start of the race was Francesco Bagnaia. Despite finishing first when the red flag was flying on the circuit, he made a bad second start and in the fifth lap he was in eleventh place. The second start for Maverick Viñales was not good either. The Yamaha from Figueres did not start, leaving Viñales without options to make the warm-up lap and forcing him to come out in last position from the pits.
With Bagnaia out of the top positions, Jorge Martín and Joan Mir have gained control of the race. Fabio Quartararo and Jack Miller have taken the lead in the fight for third place, and have let Martin and Mir fly, opening more and more space between the first two and the last position on the podium. The duel for third place lasted until the nineteenth lap, when Miller almost abdicated. Bad braking combined with a choice of too hard tires has sent the Ducati rider into the gravel, as he tried to cut decimals to Quartararo on a bend.
The podium has therefore been defined eight laps from the end. Jorge Martín has achieved his first victory in Moto GP, sweeping with his Ducati, and has been the sixth different rider to win a race this season. Mir finished in second place and Quartararo closed the podium. One of the performances of the afternoon was starring Brad Binder, who came out from the sixteenth position and ended up rolling just behind Quartararo.
With the race over, Dani Pedrosa reached tenth place thanks to a three-second penalty on Francesco Bagnia. Ducati’s had a bad afternoon: he came out in second place and finished in tenth. In addition, the Italian has exceeded the limits of the track in the last lap to the benefit of Pedrosa. Just ahead of the driver invited by KTM, Àlex Márquez finished, with a total of five Catalan drivers in the top ten.
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