Acosta finally wins, Martin retakes MotoGP lead in Austria, with Sepang in the frame
Pedro Acosta took his first premier-class victory at the Red Bull Ring, while Jorge Martin went 12 points clear of Marc Marquez. There are seven rounds left, and the Malaysian GP is one of them.
After 15 premier-class podiums without a win, Pedro Acosta finally won a MotoGP race.
The Red Bull KTM rider won the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday, 20 September. He made up for a hard weekend in which he crashed out of the lead of Saturday's Sprint and fell again in Sunday warm-up. Starting fifth, Acosta worked through the field, passed Jorge Martin on lap 9 and controlled the rest of the race to win by 1.017 seconds.
Race result (top 10):
- Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM)
- Jorge Martin (Aprilia) +1.017s
- Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +1.209s
- Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +2.139s
- Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo) +7.339s
- Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM)
- Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo)
- Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati)
- Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati)
- Johann Zarco (LCR Honda)
Alex Marquez did not finish.
Martin's big weekend
The bigger story was the title race. Jorge Martin won Saturday's Sprint. He fell back to eighth on the first lap when Marc Marquez pushed him wide at Turn 2, but fought back and won when Acosta crashed three laps from the end. He followed that with second on Sunday. That was enough to take the championship lead back from reigning champion Marc Marquez, who was second in the Sprint but only fifth on Sunday as the top Ducati.
MotoGP standings after Round 15 of 22:
- Jorge Martin (Aprilia) – 306
- Marc Marquez (Ducati) – 294
- Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) – 264
- Pedro Acosta (KTM) – 234
- Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati) – 230
- Ai Ogura (Aprilia) – 222
Aprilia took second, third and fourth on Sunday and have four riders in the championship's top seven. They are now properly challenging Ducati.
The run to Sepang
Seven rounds remain, and most of them are in Asia-Pacific:
- 4 Oct: Japan (Motegi)
- 11 Oct: Indonesia (Mandalika)
- 25 Oct: Australia (Phillip Island)
- 1 Nov: Malaysia (Sepang)
- 8 Nov: Qatar (rescheduled from April)
- 22 Nov: Portugal (Portimão)
- 29 Nov: Valencia (finale)
With only 12 points separating the top two, the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia (30 Oct–1 Nov) could have a big say in the title. Last year's Sepang round drew a record crowd of nearly 191,000.
Malaysian MotoGP tickets: Friday 30 Oct is free entry to all seating areas. SIC lists the K2 Hillstand (MyKad holders only) at RM49.90, F Grandstand at RM143.75, K1 Grandstand at RM206.25 and Main Grandstand at RM345. The Premier Seat and the Marc Márquez Tribune are already sold out. Buy through SIC's official channels.
Sepang also hosts F1 on 2–4 October, so the circuit has two world championship weekends within a month.
Sources: Crash.net; Cycle News; Sepang International Circuit.