Moto2: Bagnaia blasts past Oliveira in Austria showdown
A game of cat-and -mouse between championship rivals Francesco Bagnaia and Miguel Oliveira came to a head with a frantic final corner pass handing the win to Bagnaia, maintaining his perfect pole-to-win form in the Moto2 Grand Prix at Austria.
The Sky Racing VR46 rider got the best start off the line but then got overwhelmed, contact with Fabio Quartararo saw him lucky to stay on and incredibly he managed to come out of the dramatic start in third.
Oliveira had pulled out a gap amidst all the drama, but Bagnaia set about reeling him back in, then stalked the Red Bull KTM Ajo around the track lap after lap before showing his hand with four laps left to run.
The pair then rehearsed their final moves as they entered the final turn, with grip lacking when it counted Oliveira ran slightly wide, Bagnaia using his Kalex to run inside and push him even further off line to grab the win and regain the lead in the championship with a three point advantage.
The battle for third was equally fierce- Luca Marini survived the need to drop a position during the race to take the final podium spot, his third rostrum finish in a row on the second Sky Racing VR46 entry.
Alex Marquez completely missed out after crashing from the group when he too ran wide in sight of the line.
Mattia Pasini took advantage to grab fourth for Italtrans, with Jorge Navarro a much improved fifth for Gresini. Brad Binder was the last of the group after having to put in a series of fastest laps to catch up, he too survived the order to give back a place without getting swamped and finished sixth on the second Red Bull KTM entry.
Marcel Schrotter was next to cross the finish line close behind in seventh for Dynavolt Intact GP,a great effort after surviving a knock from Marquez on the first lap. Joan Mir was a distant eighth, a strong result after qualifying down in 20th for EG 0,0 Marc VDS. He was the top rookie finisher again too.
Quartararo did well to stay on board after his opening lap contact with Bagnaia and brought the Speed Up home in ninth after picking up places as the laps ticked down. Iker Lecuona completed the top ten for Swiss Innovative Investors.
Romano Fenati also did a good job of picking off the opposition in the closing stages to rise to eleventh for the Marinelli Snipers Team, Danny Kent returned to the points in twelfth for Speed Up.
Locatelli (Italtrans) finished 13th, Stefano Manzi (Forward Racing) beat Tetsuta Nagashima to hold on to 14th leaving the Idemitsu man to claim the final point on offer.
A huge pile up at the start of the race caused by Lorenzo Baldassarri running wide saw the Italian joined in the gravel by Pons team-mate Augusta Fernandez and Simone Corsi.
Remy Gardner was next to exit one lap later, with Federico Fuligni and Sam Lowes also failing to finish.
Xavi Vierge missed the race after his qualifying crash, he has been diagnosed with a double bone break in his hand.
