MotoGP Austrian GP: Moto2 and Moto3 results

The day started with a 20-lap Moto3 race, in which David Alonso took his seventh victory of the season and extended his championship lead.

Alonso’s chances of victory were boosted by early problems for title contender and pole sitter Ivan Ortola, who had to pit with technical problems just seconds after taking his starting position.

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the CFMoto Aspar rider. He was given a long-lap penalty earlier in the weekend on lap three for riding too slowly, dropping him to tenth place.

That meant that Boe Motorsports’ Joel Kelso took the lead early in the race, ahead of Tech3 rival Daniel Holgado and teammate David Munoz, with the trio holding a one-second lead over the rest of the pack.

It wasn’t until lap seven, when Holgado passed Kelso to take the lead, that more riders joined the leading group. Intact GP’s Collin Veijer was particularly fast on the Husqvarna.

After beating Kelso for third place, Veijer demoted Munoz at Turn 1, before finally passing Holgado at the same corner later to take the lead.

By this point, Alonso had firmly established himself in the leading group and on lap 13 he quickly passed Munoz and Leopard Racing’s Angel Piqueras to move directly behind Veijer into second place, while Holgado dropped back to fifth.

After a failed attempt to overtake Veijer into Turn 9 on the following lap, Alonso finally made the decisive move to take the lead into the same right-hander on lap 15.

Alonso was under heavy pressure from a number of drivers in the final five laps of the race, but managed to retain the lead by 0.121 seconds.

Munoz crossed the finish line first in a race with Holgado, taking second place by just 0.005 seconds, while Veijer dropped to fifth behind Piqueras.

Ortola recovered well after his pit lane start, but was also able to climb to ninth place at the finish. This would see him lose even more ground to winner Alonso in the title fight.

Moto3 Austrian GP – Race Results

1	D. Alonso CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team	80		CF-MOTO	20			154.9		25
2	D. Muñoz BOE Motorsport	64		KTM	20		0.121	154.9		20
3	D. Holgado Red Bull GASGAS Tech3	96		GAS GAS	20		0.005	154.9		16
4	A. Piqueras Leopard racing	36		Honda	20		0.085	154.9		13
5	C. Veijer Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP	95		Husqvarna	20		0.092	154.9		11
6	A.Fernandez Leopard racing	31		Honda	20		2,423	154.7		10
7	J.Antonio Red Bull KTM Factory Race	99		KTM	20		0.064	154.7		9
8	J.Kelso BOE Motorsport	66		KTM	20		0.096	154.7		8
9	I.Ortola MT Helmets – MSI	48		KTM	20		4,656	154.3		7
10	R. Rossi CIP	54		KTM	20		0.422	154.3		6
11	Mr. Bertelle Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team	18		Honda	20		0.420	154.2		5
12	T.Suzuki Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP	24		Husqvarna	20		0.063	154.2		4
13	R. Yamanaka MT Helmets – MSI	6		KTM	20		3,186	154.0		3
14	J.Roulstone Red Bull GASGAS Tech3	12		GAS GAS	20		0.071	154.0		2
15	T. Furusato Honda Team Asia	72		Honda	20		2,138	154.3		1
16	N.Fabio LEVELUP-MTA	10		KTM	20		5,335	153.4
17	L. Lunetta SIC58 Squadra dog	58		Honda	20		0.036	153.4
18	X. Zurutuza Red Bull KTM Factory Race	85		KTM	20		0.059	153.4
19	S.Ogden Fibre Tec Honda – MLav Racing	19		Honda	20		1,349	153.3
20	D. Almansa Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team	22		Honda	20		0.147	153.3
21	T. Buasri Honda Team Asia	5		Honda	20		3,325	153.1
22	J. Rosenthaler Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP	34		Husqvarna	20		0.894	153.0
23	V. Perez Fibre Tec Honda – MLav Racing	21		Honda	20		0.249	153.0
24	N. Dettwiler CIP	55		KTM	20		3,781	152.7
25	J.Esteban CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team	78		CF-MOTO	20		1,440	152.6
26	F. Farioli SIC58 Squadra dog	7		Honda	20		15,070	151.5
failed	S. Nepa LEVELUP-MTA	82		KTM	14		6 Rounds	153.8	Accident

Celestino Vietti, Red Bull KTM Ajo

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

In Moto2, Celestino Vietti took his second consecutive victory in Austria, while championship contenders Sergio Garcia and Fermin Aldeguer finished outside the top 10.

Vietti didn’t make the most of his pole position start and dropped to second behind Aron Canet, but he managed to regain that position on the second lap with a brilliant overtake over his Fantic rival at Turn 4.

Canet fell behind Speed ​​Up Racing’s Alonso Lopez on the following lap, while Vietti slowly built up a lead of over a second over his Ajo Kalex in the next phase of the race.

There was drama for the Italian on lap 10 when he appeared to suffer a gearshift problem at Turn 3, allowing Lopez and Canet to close to within four-tenths of a second.

But when Lopez and Canet also engaged in a battle on lap 15, Vietti was able to pull away from the chasers again and eventually take his first race win in 12 months with a lead of 1.85 seconds.

Lopez took second, while CFMoto’s Jake Dixon passed Aspar Canet on the final lap to secure the final spot on the podium.

Fifth place went to Marc VDS rider Tony Arbolino, while the leader in the standings, Garcia, looked set to move up to sixth, until he was given a long lap penalty for exceeding the track limit with just four laps to go.

The MT Helmets – MSI rider took the loop exiting Turn 1 on lap 20 and rejoined the circuit in 13th place, before crossing the finish line in 14th place.

But with his closest rival and team-mate Ai Ogura missing the race after being injured in a crash during practice on Saturday, Garcia returns from the weekend with an even bigger lead in the standings.

Speed ​​Up’s Aldeguer had an even worse race than Garcia, finishing 20th after starting 17th on the grid. Joe Roberts for the American Racing Team finished ninth.

Moto2 Austrian GP – Race Results