Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) has sealed his third consecutive victory, and fifth of the season, at the Austrian MotoGP 2022. The Italian dominated the race from beginning to end to beat a spectacular Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) by 0,4s.

Despite racing in hostile territory, the World Championship leader has given a sensational performance to claim a second place that tastes like a victory. This was, in fact, the best result for a Iwata machine since the return of the MotoGP World Championship to Spielberg.

The other official Desmosedici of Jack Miller completed the podium giving the team of Borgo Panigale its double success.

The greatest disappointment of the day came by the hand of Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia). The Spaniard,  still recovering from his accident at Silverstone, has only been able to grab sixth place, giving up a few points in his head to head battle for the title with Quartararo.

His chances to remain in the title race are slowly shrinking. He even had an issue with the starting device which nearly leaves him out of the race altogether.

Similarly Jorge Martín (Pramac Racing) wasted another great opportunity to claim the Ducati 2023 seat for himself against his teammate Enea Bastianini.

The pilot from Madrid crashed as he attempted to pass Miller for third,  finishing in tenth place. His Italian enemy,  also known as The Beast,  hasn’t even been able to finish the Styrian race due to a technical problem with his bike.

Bagnaia has passed poleman Bastianini for first at the start of the Austrian MotoGP 2022. After them came Miller with Martín behind in fourth. Chasing the Ducati quartet,  Viñales was passing Quartararo for fifth with Aleix Espargaró following one place below in sixth.

With 26 laps to go,  the four leaders opened an extra 0,1s with Viñales, who had also escaped from Quartararo, six, by and extra half a second, same distance that this had with Aleix,  seventh. One lap later and Miller would overtake Bastianini, who in turn swapped third place with Martín.

A mistake by Viñales soon after, gifted an unsuspecting Quartararo the fifth position while the Italian from Gresini Racing abandoned the Austrian MotoGP 2022.

Back at the top of the race and the Ducaties of Bagnaia and Miller broke away followed by Martín’s Desmosedici one second behind. Meanwhile,  Quartararo was flying in third chased by the Aprilias of Aleix and Maverick. It was then that the latter started to suffer tire issues and fell progressively down the pack to tenth position.

With less than ten laps remaining for the end of the Austrian MotoGP 2022, Bagnaia sustained a 1,1s distance with Miller and Quartararo, third, thanks to a mistake by Martín. The latter,  however,  was able to rectify and recover several position to fourth.

Despite his Yamaha not being as fast as the others, the ruthless pace of the Frenchman allowed him to position himself hot on Miller’s heels. Taking advantage of that battle, Martín was mounting an attack on the Australian from Ducati. Then, with four laps to go,  Quartararo performed a fabulous pass on Miller at the chicane.

In the last laps, and with Pecco dominating the race and Quartararo having secured second place,  the excitement moved on to the battle for third between Miller and Martín. In the final round,  Martín crashed as he attempted to pass Miller, and it was thanks to that that Aleix could grab sixth place. By then,  Bagnaia,  Quartararo and the Australian pilot had already crossed the finish line.

Images of Austrian MotoGP 2022: Michelin.