Moto2 Austria: Martin takes first win in shortened race
Jorge Martin began the restarted Moto2 Austrian Grand Prix from pole after moving into the lead before the red flag incident. He never looked back as he brought more success for KTM at their home track.
The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was initially kept in check by Luca Marini, but he faded as the laps ticked down, leaving the Spaniard clear by 2.195s.
Martin moves into third in the championship standings, which are now lead by Luca Marini for Sky Racing VR46 after his second took him to a total of 78.
Enea Bastianini was unable to defend his title lead after being the catalyst for the horrific incident which caused the race to be stopped.
The Italtrans rider lost control of his bike coming over the uphill section. He was flipped over the front, leaving both rider and bike sat on track.
Bastianini was lucky not to be hit himself as the unsighted riders came upon his crash - most avoided both but Hafizh Syahrin was left nowhere to go and was set flying over the wreckage.
The medics were quick to respond and medical tests at the track, including a CT scan, revealed no serious injury with just a hip contusion and bruising picked up before the Malaysian was transferred to hospital for further checks.
Back on the podium, Marcel Schrotter continued his return to form with third, his first rostrum visit since Germany last year for Liqui Moly Intqact GP.
Sam Lowes claimed fourth for EG 0,0 Marc VDS after Petronas rider Xavi Vierge ran wide in the final corner.
Marco Bezzecchi had struggled to keep within the track limits repeatedly over the course of the race, but managed his issues to improve to finish sixth after battling hard with Vierge and Lowes.
Tom Luthi also saw improvements on his Intact bike as he was far more competitive - seventh equals his best result so far this season.
Augusto Fernandez ensured both EG 0,0 Marc VDS bikes finished inside the top ten in eighth. He finished just ahead of top rookie Aron Canet (Inde Aspar Team) and last week’s podium finisher Joe Roberts (Tennor American Racing).
Flexbox HP 40’s Lorenzo Baldassarri kept Dominique Aegerter at bay for eleventh. The Swiss impressed as a replacement rider for the injured Jesko Raffin at NTS RW Racing with his first points finish since his return to the intermediate class.
The remaining points on offer went to Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) in 13th, Jake Dixon (Petronas Sprinta Racing) in 14th and Hector Garzo on the second Flexbox HP40 entry in 15th.
After the restart, Jorge Navarro soon slid out of contention. He was followed by Tetsuta Nagashima and Remy Gardner, who had been the original polesitter and running in third at the time.
Edgar Pons and Andi Farid Izdihar were both also taken out of the race after running wide to avoid the red flag crash.
