MARTIN TAKES MAIDEN MOTOGP VICTORY

In his rookie season, Spaniard Jorge Martin emphatically converted pole position into victory at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

The 23-year-old in just his sixth MotoGP race took an incredible race win, first holding off and then pulling away from reigning world champion Joan Mir in the final laps of the race.

It was not only Martin’s maiden victory, but he delivered the first ever win for Pramac Ducati and first for a non-factory Ducati team full stop.

Former Pramac Ducati rider, Australian Jack Miller sat at the front of the field in the opening laps and was fighting for a podium when he crashed out of the race late on.

When the lights went out, Martin was beaten to Turn 1 by factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia, however on lap 2 the race came to an abrupt halt due to a massive fuel fire on the exit of Turn 3.

Wildcard Dani Pedrosa crashed at slow speed and his KTM was hit by Lorenzo Savadori’s Aprilia causing both bikes to burst into flames.

The red flag was thrown as a lengthy clean-up operation took place.

Pedrosa escaped uninjured and was able to take the restart on his spare bike, while Savadori suffered a broken ankle.

Fiery crash interrupted the race – Image: Motorsport Images

As only 1 lap was completed, the decision was taken to completely restart the race, this was good news for Miller who made a shocking start and fell to ninth.

Miller took full advantage of the restart and claimed the lead from Martin at Turn 3, with Mir followed him through at the end of the opening lap.

The top five pulled a margin early with Miller leading Mir, Martin, championship leader Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco.

At Turn 3 on lap 3, Martin overtook Mir and a lap later repeated the move to take the lead from Miller.

Mir followed through on the same lap and the pair then pulled away leaving Miller pushing hard to stay in touch.

On lap 7 Miller made a crucial mistake at Turn 3 and allowed the Yamaha of Quartararo by.

By the halfway stage of the race Martin and Mir had pulled a substantial margin on the trio fighting for third, with Miller now all over the tail of Quartararo.

Miller was getting closer and closer, but the Frenchman did not crack under pressure, in the end it was actually the Aussie that made the error.

Miller carried too much speed into Turn 7 and as a result the front end gave way, sending Miller sliding into the gravel trap and out of the race.

Out front Martin and Mir could not be separated, but similar to what happened with Miller, it was the hunter that made the first error running wide at Turn 3 on lap 22.

The mistake saw Mir concede defeat and bring his factory Suzuki home in second place.

This allowed former Moto3 champion Martin to take his maiden MotoGP race victory by 1.5s from fellow Spaniard Mir.

Mir’s second place allowed him to claw back some points on championship leader Quartararo who scored his seventh podium of the season with a third place finish.

Quartararo’s nearest championship rival Zarco was fourth at the start of the final lap but finished in sixth.

From 16th on the grid KTM rider Brad Binder charged to finish the race in fourth after overtaking both Zarco and Takaaki Nakagami on the final lap.

It was Nakagami who came home in fifth, leaving a disappointed Zarco in sixth.

Alex Rins finished the race in seventh ahead of the Marquez brothers, six-time champion Marc and former Moto2 champion Alex in ninth.

Racing for the first time in two and a half years veteran Pedrosa impressed by rounding out the top 10.

Bagnaia led when the red flag was flown on the original start but had no pace when the race restarted. The Italian finished in 11th ahead of Enea Bastianini and the legendary Valentino Rossi.

Rossi’s half brother Luca Marini finished 14th while Iker Lecuona rounded out the points finishers.

Notably Maverick Vinales finished outside of the points, he had to start the restarted race from the pitlane after stalling from the grid, he was last of the finishers in 19th.

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