Francesco Bagnaia totally dominated the tenth Sprint race of the year at the Red Bull Ring circuit in Austria, notching up a spectacular lights-to-flag victory – his fourth this year – to boost his lead over his closest rivals in the championship to 46 points.
After setting his fifth pole position of the year in the morning’s qualifying session with a time of 1:28.539, Bagnaia got an outstanding start to head the field into the tight first corner at the top of the hill, which was fatal for several riders behind who were eliminated in a mid-group collision.
MotoGP Austria 2023: Bagnia continues rampage season
The Italian then put in an impressive series of sub-1’30 laps in the first half of the race to gradually increase his lead, setting a pace that none of his pursuers were able to match. Pecco’s winning margin as he took the chequered flag was two full seconds.
Teammate Enea Bastianini, who started thirteenth on the grid, was caught up in the first-corner chaos and was forced wide, and this conditioned his pursuit of the field in the remaining laps. Enea moved into thirteenth place on lap 7, a position he held to the flag.
On his latest victory, Bagnaia said, “I’m very happy with how things went today; I knew how important it was to be in front at the first corner because it’s always a mess being behind at this track. I just tried to do my best and then pushed like hell to remain in front. Sincerely I was expecting my rivals to be stronger.”
After an enthralling round at the Red Bull Ring, focus will shift to the Catalunya round slated to take place at Barcelona from September 1-3.
