Moto2 Styria: Martin track limits mistake hands first win to Bezzecchi
Jorge Martin was robbed of a Styrian Grand Prix Moto2 victory after he exceeded track limits on the last lap, gifting a maiden win to VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi
The Austrian GP winner fended off Bezzecchi by 0.060 seconds having led the entire 25-lap Red Bull Ring, but ran off track on the exit of Turn 8 on the final tour, which is an automatic one-place drop in the Moto2 rule book.
Martin jumped maiden poleman Aron Canet on the run to the first corner, with the sister Ajo KTM of Tetsuta Nagashima slotting into third.
A moment for Remy Gardner at Turn 3 broke up the lead group, with Martin, Canet and Nagashima opening up a slight advantage.
A crash for Aspar rookie Canet at Turn 4 on lap 2 left Martin to lead team-mate Nagashima, with Gardner some eight tenths adrift.
By lap 6, Gardner had recovered the gap and was putting some pressure on Nagashima, while Bezzecchi was charging through to try and get on terms with the podium battle on his VR46 Kalex.
Gardner made his move on Nagashima for second on the 11th tour, which allowed Martin to open up his lead to a second, while Bezzecchi moved up to third on the following lap.
Martin's advantage extended to 1.6s over the next few laps, with it growing to over two seconds when Bezzecchi and Gardner locked horns over second.
The VR46 rider got the run on Gardner into Turn 3 on lap 16, but the Australian was late on the anchors on his SAG machine and forced Bezzecchi to repeat his move down into Turn 4.
Once ahead of Gardner, Bezzecchi was able to put a few bike lengths between the pair and began to erode Martin's lead.
Bezzecchi got the gap down to 1.5s on lap 19, with it dipping underneath a second for the first time two tours later.
As they started the final lap, Martin's lead stood at just three tenths over the hard-charging Bezzecchi.
Martin was brilliantly defensive over the final lap and denied Bezzecchi on the run to the line before being demoted to second for exceeding track limits on the last tour.
That gave Bezzecchi his maiden Moto2 triumph and ensured two wins for VR46 riders in the Styrian GP following Celestino Vietti's Moto3 victory.
Gardner completed the podium for the first time this season, with Nagashima and Tom Luthi (Intact GP) rounding out the top five.
Xavi Vierge was sixth on the Petronas Sprinta Kalex ahead of Luca Marini, who holds an eight-point championship lead over Martin and 10th-placed Enea Bastianini.
Jake Dixon (Petronas Sprinta) and Pons' Hector Garzo slotted in between Marini and Bastianini at the finish.
Marc VDS' Sam Lowes was given the black flag for causing a collision with Somkiat Chantra (Honda Team Asia) and Speed Up's Jorge Navarro at Turn 3 on lap three - though the Briton crashed on the following tour just as the Race Direction message came through.
Moto2 Styria results - 25 laps
Pos | Rider | Team | Bike | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marco Bezzecchi | SKY Racing Team VR46 | Kalex/Triumph | 37m12.461s |
2 | Jorge Martin | Red Bull KTM Ajo | Kalex/Triumph | -0.060 |
3 | Remy Gardner | ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team | Kalex/Triumph | 1.027s |
4 | Tetsuta Nagashima | Red Bull KTM Ajo | Kalex/Triumph | 1.974s |
5 | Thomas Luthi | Liqui Moly Intact GP | Kalex/Triumph | 3.230s |
6 | Xavi Vierge | Petronas Sprinta Racing | Kalex/Triumph | 6.196s |
7 | Luca Marini | SKY Racing Team VR46 | Kalex/Triumph | 8.634s |
8 | Jake Dixon | Petronas Sprinta Racing | Kalex/Triumph | 9.005s |
9 | Hector Garzo | Flexbox HP 40 | Kalex/Triumph | 9.620s |
10 | Enea Bastianini | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex/Triumph | 10.051s |
11 | Marcel Schrotter | Liqui Moly Intact GP | Kalex/Triumph | 10.238s |
12 | Joe Roberts | Tennor American Racing | Kalex/Triumph | 14.857s |
13 | Nicolo Bulega | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | Kalex/Triumph | 17.968s |
14 | Stefano Manzi | MV Agusta Forward Racing | MV Agusta/Triumph | 20.956s |
15 | Lorenzo Baldassarri | Flexbox HP 40 | Kalex/Triumph | 21.189s |
16 | Marcos Ramirez | Tennor American Racing | Kalex/Triumph | 21.497s |
17 | Lorenzo Dalla Porta | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex/Triumph | 26.471s |
18 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | +Ego Speed Up | Speed Up/Triumph | 26.952s |
19 | Edgar Pons | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | Kalex/Triumph | 29.400s |
20 | Simone Corsi | MV Agusta Forward Racing | MV Agusta/Triumph | 30.859s |
21 | Kasma Kasmayudin | ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team | Kalex/Triumph | 43.828s |
22 | Alejandro Medina | Openbank Aspar Team | Speed Up/Triumph | 55.353s |
23 | Andi Izdihar | Idemitsu Honda Team Asia | Kalex/Triumph | 1m00.005s |
24 | Bo Bendsneyder | NTS RW Racing GP | NTS/Triumph | 1m10.576s |
- | Dominique Aegerter | NTS RW Racing GP | NTS/Triumph | Retirement |
- | Augusto Fernandez | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Kalex/Triumph | Retirement |
- | Sam Lowes | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Kalex/Triumph | Disqualified |
- | Jorge Navarro | +Ego Speed Up | Speed Up/Triumph | Retirement |
- | Somkiat Chantra | Idemitsu Honda Team Asia | Kalex/Triumph | Retirement |
- | Aron Canet | Openbank Aspar Team | Speed Up/Triumph | Retirement |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments