Mir Continues Moto3 Domination in Austria

Joan Mir’s march towards the Moto3 world championship gathered pace at the Red Bull Ring with another classy victory in the Austrian Grand Prix. The Spaniard, who claimed his maiden victory here 12 months ago, dominated despite starting tenth on the grid, extending his championship lead to 64 points as a result.

Mir had qualified second but a post-session penalty for exceeding track limits saw his fastest lap time deleted, promoting the RBA team-mates into first and second on the grid. Neither Gabriel Rodrigo or Juanfran Guevara were able to mount a serious victory challenge though with Mir coolly picking off his adversaries on his way through the field.

By lap six, the Leopard rider had overhauled early leaders Bo Bendsneyder and Jorge Martin to take the lead and a succession of incidents and battles in the chasing pack allowed him to escape. Bendsneyder was responsible for one of those incidents, tailgating John McPhee at the start of lap sixteen, while Andrea Migno was another rider to hit the deck, moments after claiming second.

The race was also lit up by the sensational Jaume Masia with the 16-year-old producing one of the most impressive debuts in recent memory, rising as high as second on the Platinum Bay Real Estate KTM and smashing the lap record. Ultimately though, his inexperience showed with an error at turn three in the closing laps, ruining his podium prospects.

Through all the mayhem, Philipp Oettl took a career-best second ahead of Martin who secured a brave podium despite still suffering from the injuries sustained in Germany last month. Livio Loi capped off a superb day for Leopard in fourth ahead of Aron Canet and Fabio Di Giannantonio while the polesitter Rodrigo came home seventh, edging out Adam Norrodin and the impressive Masia.

 

Moto3 NeroGiardini Motorrad Grand Prix von Osterreich: Result

Pos	Rider	Constructor	Team	Time/Gap	Pts
1	36. Joan Mir	Honda	Leopard Racing	37:23.124	25
2	65. Philipp Oettl	KTM	Südmetall Schedl GP Racing	+3.045	20
3	88. Jorge Martin	Honda	Del Conca Gresini Moto3	+3.377	16
4	11. Livio Loi	Honda	Leopard Racing	+3.385	13
5	44. Aron Canet	Honda	Estrella Galicia 0,0	+3.502	11
6	21. Fabio Di Giannantonio	Honda	Del Conca Gresini Moto3	+3.730	10
7	19. Gabriel Rodrigo	KTM	RBA BOE Racing Team	+3.804	9
8	7. Adam Norrodin	Honda	SIC Racing Team	+4.183	8
9	15. Jaume Masia	KTM	Platinum Bay Real Estate	+4.310	7
10	33. Enea Bastianini	Honda	Estrella Galicia 0,0	+4.858	6
11	8. Nicolo Bulega	KTM	Sky Racing Team VR46	+4.887	5
12	42. Marcos Ramirez	KTM	Platinum Bay Real Estate	+5.054	4
13	5. Romano Fenati	Honda	Marinelli Rivacold Snipers	+5.080	3
14	58. Juanfran Guevara	KTM	RBA BOE Racing Team	+7.015	2
15	27. Kaito Toba	Honda	Honda Team Asia	+16.246	1
16	95. Jules Danilo	Honda	Marinelli Rivacold Snipers	+16.447
17	14. Tony Arbolino	Honda	SIC58 Squadra Corse	+16.449
18	71. Ayumu Sasaki	Honda	SIC Racing Team	+16.653
19	96. Manuel Pagliani	Mahindra	CIP	+16.673
20	84. Jakub Kornfeil	Peugeot	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	+17.077
21	16. Andrea Migno	KTM	Sky Racing Team VR46	+34.984
22	6. Maria Herrera	KTM	AGR Team	+43.607
23	13. Maximilian Kofler	KTM	Motorsport Kofler E.U.	+57.874
24	4. Patrik Pulkkinen	Peugeot	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	+57.982
NC	12. Marco Bezzecchi	Mahindra	CIP	+1 Lap
NC	75. Albert Arenas	Mahindra	Mahindra Gaviota Aspar	+1 Lap
NC	41. Nakarin Atiratphuvapat	Honda	Honda Team Asia	+1 Lap
NC	17. John McPhee	Honda	British Talent Team	+7 Laps
NC	64. Bo Bendsneyder	KTM	Red Bull KTM Ajo	+8 Laps
NC	23. Niccolo Antonelli	KTM	Red Bull KTM Ajo	+9 Laps
NC	24. Tatsuki Suzuki	Honda	SIC58 Squadra Corse	+9 Laps
NC	48. Lorenzo Dalla Porta	Mahindra	Mahindra Gaviota Aspar	+21 Laps
NC	18. Gabriel Martinez-Abrego	KTM	Motomex Team Moto3	+21 Laps