Francesco Bagnaia emerged victorious in Round 14 of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. The Ducati factory rider became the second ever Ducati rider to take three consecutive wins leveling the record with Australian legend Casey Stoner. Bagnaia achieved the feat as he won at Assen, Silverstone and then today at the Red Bull Ring.
The man on pole was Gresini’s Enea Bastianini, who actually was starting from his first ever pole position in the premier class. It seemed like a good start for Enea, but Bagnaia eked into the lead at turn 1.
It was a Ducati pecking order up front as Bagnaia, Bastianini, Miller and Martin made the top 4. Enea Bastianini and Jack Miller had a good scrap until the Aussie pulled clear. Jorge Martin was next to clear Bastianini.
Suzuki’s chances ended soon as Joan Mir crashed out of the race at turn 4. It was back-to-back DNF’s for the Spanish rider.
Meanwhile Fabio Quartararo seemed to be stuck in an Aprilia sandwich between Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro. Fabio however managed to put himself in contention as he pipped the Aprilia of Vinales to find himself chasing down Jorge Martin.
Then came the charge from the Yamaha man as he set off on the leading trio of Ducatis. He put on some stellar laps to close in the gap on Jorge Martin and Jack Miller. Martin found himself going hot into the new 2A and 2B chicane and had to surrender the place to Quartararo.
Luca Marini from the Mooney VR46 Racing Team also found himself in a good spot as he stole 5th place from Aleix Espargaro.
Martin seemed to regain momentum and tried to take third off Quartararo but the Frenchman held on. He went past Jack Miller to take 2nd place. Martin tried to take Miller into turn 1 on the final lap but crashed. He rejoined the race but only managed to secure 10th place.
Quartararo had eight tenths to take off Bagnaia but it was looking unlikely. Bagnaia would hold on by half a second to take the victory. A splendid fight from Quartararo as he skinned through every bit of that factory Yamaha beyond its limits.
With 20 points in the race, Quartararo extends his championship lead by 32 point from Aleix Espargaro in second. Quartararo remains on top with 200 points, Aleix with 168 and in third is Pecco Bagnaia with 156 points.
The next race sees the riders take to the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli for the San Marino Grand Prix from September 2nd to 4th.
Image credit: Twitter
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