Pecco Bagnaia keeps knocking on the door of the title fight. The Italian from Ducati won with authority and relative ease at the Red Bull Ring, a friendly circuit for the Borgo Panigale machines, and now has five victories - his third in a row for the first time - and is close to 44 points behind the leader, Fabio Quartararo , which minimized damage by scaling from 5th to 2nd.
At the start, Pecco Bagnaia made a lightning start and overtook Bastianini to take the lead and start pushing hard. Miller and Martín held on to 3rd and 4th, Quartararo held on in 5th but was soon overtaken by Viñales. While his great rival for the title, Aleix Espargaró, went wrong, he lost one position, from 9th to 10th, although he recovered three places (7th) in the first two laps, to quickly contact the Frenchman .
Four Ducati were in the lead, in a compact group, with Viñales trailing by 1 second in the third lap. Joan Mir was erased from the front wagon with a crash at turn 4.
The first duel took place between the four Ducati. They saw in Bastianini the weakest fawn and Miller and Martin ate it to make it fourth. Gresini's Italian did not have the day and went off track with a straight two laps later. He dropped out, which facilitated the approach of Quartararo, fourth, and Aleix Espargaró, fifth, who was beginning to pick up cruising speed, set a better lap and approached the Frenchman.
Bagnaia and Miller, in the lead, opened a one-second gap on Martin on the ninth lap. Although Martín did not loosen up, one lap later he was close to 6 tenths, and another one and he was close to the Australian. Quartararo, in turn, remained solid and distanced himself 1 second from Aleix, fifth, with Viñales at his back.
Aware that the Ducatis could mess him up, Quartararo turned his pace around halfway through the race (v. 14/28) and managed to contact Martín to try to catch up with the leading trio. Espargaró dropped 1.5 seconds behind the Frenchman. For his part, Bagnaia, stronger and stronger, distanced himself in the lead with 7 tenths over Miller.
The leader of the World Championship received a little help from Martín, who slipped in on lap 17, went to the escape area and gave up a position. The Frenchman was already in podium position, 7 tenths behind Miller, with 11 laps to go. The advantage did not last long for the Australian, who saw Quartararo stick to him in less than two laps and how he was going to argue with him for second position. He did it with four laps to go, neatly with a beautiful interior asserting the speed in the corner, lifting the bike. Martín could not follow him and stayed fourth, behind the Aussie.
Bagnaia had left with 1.6 seconds to go with 4 laps to go. Quartararo would have to press hard to catch up with the Italian, although second position was good for him because Aleix Espargaró kept falling back, surpassed by Marini and Zarco. Only Martín's crash on the last lap allowed him to gain a place and finish 6th. He gives up 10 more points to Quartararo, who sees his main rival further away (32 points away) and his new threat, Bagnaia, closer (44 points away).
"It was one of my best races. I pushed to the limit and avoided the crash. I'm happy because I was able to make a good start and then a great comeback. With a few more laps there would have been a great fight (with Bagnaia)," Quartararo commented.
"It has been a very long race; I have made quite a few mistakes at the beginning of the season and it was time to be constant. I have tried to stay calm", said Bagnaia, already thinking of Misano, in his home Grand Prix to give another scratch to the Quartararo leadership.
1. Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati), 42m14s886
2. Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), 0s4
3. Jack Miller (Ducati), a 2s163
4. Luca Marini (Ducati), at 8s348
5. Johann Zarco (Ducati), at 8s821
6. Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia), at 11s287
7. Brad Binder (KTM), a 11s642
8. Alex Rins (Suzuki), at 11.780
9. Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati), at 13s 987
10. Jorge Martin (Ducat), at 17s144
1. Fabio Quartararo (FRA), 200 points
2. Aleix Espargaró (ESP), 168
3. Pecco Bagnaia (ITA), 156
4. Johann Zarco (FRA), 125
5. Jack Miller (AUS), 123
6. Enea Bastianini (ITA), 118
7. Brad Binder (RSA), 107
8. Alex Rins (ESP), 92
9. Jorge Martin (ESP), 87
10. Miguel Oliveira (POR), 85
