OLIVEIRA TAKES FINAL CORNER MOTOGP THRILLER

Miguel Oliveira takes final corner thriller – Photo: LAT

Miguel Oliveira snuck past a duelling Jack Miller and Pol Espargaro at the final corner of the Styrian Grand Prix to take his first MotoGP win.

By RHYS VANDERSYDE

The Tech3 KTM rider won the red flag interrupted race after both Miller and Espargaro ran wide in an intense battle for the lead of the race at the last corner.

Suzuki’s Joan Mir held a comfortable two second lead on Lap 16 until the race was stopped following a dramatic crash for Maverick Vinales.

The factory Yamaha rider suffered a brake failure heading into Turn 1. A quick-thinking Vinales jumped off his bike at over 200km/h before it slammed into the barrier and burst into flames. The Spaniard walked away from the incident relatively unscathed.

On the restart it, Miller made the most of his front row start and a fresh set of tyres to launch into the lead of the race by Turn 4. Mir didn’t have a new set of tyres left in the bank and subsequently tumbled down the order to finish off the podium.

The Australian on the Pramac Ducati held the lead while the two KTM’s of Espargaro and Oliveira made their way through the field.

Espargaro managed to get past Miller with just 6 laps left to run, with the two in an intense battle on the run to the flag.

Miller fought his back up into the lead with a move at Turn 4, but the pair weren’t finished arguing over the position and both riders ran wide on the run through the final allowing Oliveira to make a clean run from third to take the win.

Aussie Miller held on for second with Espargaro holding to the final place on the podium.

Mir ended the day fourth ahead of Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), Alex Rins (Suzuki), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), Iker Lecuona (Tech3 KTM) who rounded out the top ten.

MotoGP returns for a double-header at Misano from September 11.

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