Bagnaia holds off late Quartararo charge for victory

Having been 91 points down on Quartararo in the championship after a fourth DNF of the season in Germany, victories at Assen, Silverstone and now Red Bull Ring have put Bagnaia just 44 points behind in the standings.

Bagnaia, who only lost the lead briefly in a fight with team-mate Jack Miller, becomes the first Ducati rider since Casey Stoner in 2008 to win three-successive grands prix.

Bagnaia snatched the holeshot off the line from second on the grid as poleman Enea Bastianini slotted into second on his Gresini Ducati ahead of the sister factory team Desmosedici of Miller.

Miller would come through on Bastianini into Turn 3 on the fourth lap of 28, with Jorge Martin on the Pramac Ducati in fourth engaging with the Gresini rider through Turns 5 and 7.

Both vying for Miller’s seat at the factory team, Bastianini held firm into Turn 1 at the start of the fifth lap but would lose out again at the final corner.

Bastianini’s race came off the rails at this point as he struggled to stop his 2021-spec Ducati into Turn 3, which forced the trailing Johann Zarco on the Pramac Ducati to check up.

A second braking issue into Turn 4 forced Bastianini off into the gravel before he pulled into pitlane on lap six with suspected damage to his front wheel rim.

The battling between Martin and Bastianini put 1.3s between third place and Miller in second, who was shadowing Bagnaia by around four tenths at the start of lap six.

Miller launched a raid on the lead into Turn 9 on the following tour, but ran slightly wide and allowed Bagnaia to come back through into the lead.

A surge in pace put Martin onto the back of the leading duo come lap 11, but on lap 17 he would run off at the Turn 2 chicane.

Between laps 11 and his moment on lap 17, championship leader Fabio Quartararo had closed in having remained in sixth at the start and initially lost touch with the leading Ducati quartet.

When Martin ran off at the chicane, Quartararo drew alongside when he re-joined and took third away from the Pramac rider into Turn 3.

Then at Turn 4 Martin raised his arm as if to signal he had an issue, though he carried on – albeit dropping out of touch of the podium battle.

At the front, Bagnaia extended his lead over Miller to eight tenths and extended that to over a second in the latter stages as Quartararo ate into Miller’s lead over the Yamaha rider.

Martin rallied in the closing laps of…