Moto2™ – Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Jorge Martin becomes a home hero for KTM with debut Moto2™ win.

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Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Jorge Martin marched to a debut Moto2™ win, to the delight of the orange brand, at the myWorld Austrian Grand Prix in a race that was shortened to 13 laps following a horrific incident including previous World Championship leader Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) and Hafizh Syahrin (Inde Aspar Team). The Spaniard was joined on the podium by new intermediate class points leader Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) and Marcel Schrötter.

Martin took the holeshot after a long wait for the lights to go out from the middle of front row whilst poleman Remy Garnder (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) settled into second. However, the Australian quickly dropped to third as Schrötter squeezed through into Turn 3. Championship leader Bastianini was in fifth place on lap five when he highsided out of Turn 1, leaving his bike strayed in the middle of the track. In a real hearts-in-mouth moment, Moto2™ riders swerved left and right to avoid it before Syahrin, unsighted by sitting behind another rider, was left with nowhere to go but hit the bike in a frightening incident.

Both Edgar Pons (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Andi Izdihar (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) were caught up in the crash and were fortunately OK. As is Syahrin too, with the latest from the Red Bull Ring stating that after a first scan, the Malaysian doesn’t have evidence of a big fracture, and, as a result of heavy pelvic bruising, he will go to the nearby hospital for further observations and checks. We wish Hafizh a speedy recovery following the horrific incident.

At the restart, Martin once again took the holeshot with Marini, who was up to third at the time of the red flag, settling into second. Again, Schrotter and Bezzecchi were in contention in third and fourth. Beta Tools Speed Up’s Jorge Navarro went down at the end of lap one at the final corner, with the rider walking away, before Bezzecchi whilst looking to take third at Turn 3 went extremely wide. Poleman Gardner was the ultimate opportunist and squeezed through on Schrötter and the wide Italian to take the vacated space and therefore third.

The fight for the final podium place allowed Martin and Marini to escape at the front, the pair a second clear at the end of the second lap. Bezzecchi then made the same mistake again just one lap later and dropped right out podium contention as a result. Former World Championship leader Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo) crashed out at Turn 1 at the start of lap 4 as his title aspirations took another huge blow.

At the front, Marini was stalking Martin with ten laps left. The Italian looking ominous behind the former Moto3™ World Champion. Behind them, though, the podium fight took a big twist as Gardner tucked the front into Turn 1 and threw away his chances of a Red Bull Ring rostrum. Schrötter was promoted to third as a consequence and the German now had a comfort buffer of over one and a half seconds to Lowes in fourth. The Brit didn’t hold that position for long though, with Petronas Sprinta Racing’s Xavi Vierge diving past and into the 13-point position. The pair had company too with resilient rookie Aron Canet (Inde Aspar Team) putting himself in contention for another top five finish. The quartet was completed by the recovering Bezzecchi and they certainly didn’t assist their podium chances as the battling continued for the next couple of laps.

A near highside from Lowes dropped him to sixth with now just five laps left but he regrouped quickly to get back into the fight. With four laps to go, Martin was now over a second clear of Marini after the Italian’s pressure failed to pay off. Despite never having won an intermediate class race, the Spaniard has won plenty of lightweight class races before and he looked to be in a race-winning mood.

Two laps now remaining and Lowes was back ahead of Vierge in the fight for fourth. The Briton went defensive into Turn 3 and consequently sacrificed all of his drive down the back straight and was forced to hand back the place he’d only just gained. As the trio fighting for fourth entered the final lap, Bezzecchi got his elbows out down the back straight in an attempt to get past Lowes. The chequered flag was ready, though, and it was taken by Martin for a career-first Moto2™ win. Marini clinched second and the Championship lead too, now five points clear of compatriot Bezzecchi who will get another chance in Austria next week, with the pair joined on the podium by Schrötter.

Lowes’ squabbling with Bezzecchi didn’t halt his progress in the final half a lap and he was able to pounce on a late Vierge mistake to take fourth, ahead of the Catalan and Bezzecchi. Liqui Moly Intact GP’s Tom Lüthi got the better of Augusto Fernandez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) in a fierce fight for seventh, before the top ten was completed by Canet and podium finisher last time out, Tennor American Racing’s Joe Roberts.

Top 10:
1. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
2. Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 2.195
3. Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) + 4.782
4. Sam Lowes (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) + 7.249
5. Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 7.325
6. Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 7.771
7. Tom Lüthi (Liqui Moly Intact GP) + 9.405
8. Augusto Fernandez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) + 9.598
9. Aron Canet (Inde Aspar Team) + 10.023
10. Joe Roberts (Tennor American Racing) + 10.890.

myWorld MOTORRAD GRAND PRIX VON ÖSTERREICH

Moto2 Race Classification 2020.

Spielberg, Sunday, August 16, 2020

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	88	Jorge MARTIN	SPA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	171.9	4’31.254
2	20	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	171.3	+0.848
3	16	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	171.1	+1.256
4	13	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	170.6	+1.992
5	11	33	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	170.6	+2.091
6	10	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Onexox TKKR SAG Team	Kalex	170.5	+2.241
7	9	44	Aron CANET	SPA	Inde Aspar Team	Speed Up	170.4	+2.330
8	8	22	Sam LOWES	GBR	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	170.3	+2.463
9	7	16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	Tennor American Racing	Kalex	170.1	+2.839
10	6	12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	169.8	+3.243
11	5	37	Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	169.7	+3.520
12	4	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	Flexbox HP 40	Kalex	169.5	+3.854
13	3	9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	Beta Tools Speed Up	Speed Up	169.0	+4.561
15	1	97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	168.6	+5.202
14	2	35	Somkiat CHANTRA	THA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	169.0	+4.678
16		45	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	JPN	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	168.3	+5.740
17		11	Nicolò BULEGA	ITA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	167.9	+6.414
18		96	Jake DIXON	GBR	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	167.8	+6.555
19		55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	Inde Aspar Team	Speed Up	167.7	+6.716
20		40	Hector GARZO	SPA	Flexbox HP 40	Kalex	167.5	+7.145
21		77	Dominique AEGERTER	SWI	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	167.2	+7.542
22		62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	167.0	+7.884
23		57	Edgar PONS	SPA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	166.9	+8.133
24		24	Simone CORSI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	166.8	+8.258
25		21	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Beta Tools Speed Up	Speed Up	166.6	+8.591
26		27	Andi Farid IZDIHAR	INA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	166.5	+8.766
27		42	Marcos RAMIREZ	SPA	Tennor American Racing	Kalex	166.4	+8.979
28		19	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	166.1	+9.485
29		64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	165.0	+11.229
30		99	Kasma DANIEL	MAL	Onexox TKKR SAG Team	Kalex	164.2	+12.693

Moto2 World Standing 2020

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Luca MARINI	Kalex	ITA	78
2	Enea BASTIANINI	Kalex	ITA	73
3	Jorge MARTIN	Kalex	SPA	59
4	Sam LOWES	Kalex	GBR	59
5	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	JPN	55
6	Aron CANET	Speed Up	SPA	43
7	Marco BEZZECCHI	Kalex	ITA	40
8	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	36
9	Joe ROBERTS	Kalex	USA	35
10	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	ITA	33
11	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	32
12	Remy GARDNER	Kalex	AUS	25
13	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	25
14	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	SWI	24
15	Jorge NAVARRO	Speed Up	SPA	19
16	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Speed Up	MAL	17
17	Stefano MANZI	MV Agusta	ITA	13
18	Nicolò BULEGA	Kalex	ITA	8
19	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NTS	NED	5
20	Hector GARZO	Kalex	SPA	5
21	Dominique AEGERTER	NTS	SWI	4
22	Jake DIXON	Kalex	GBR	4
23	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	Speed Up	ITA	3
24	Somkiat CHANTRA	Kalex	THA	3
25	Marcos RAMIREZ	Kalex	SPA	1
26	Simone CORSI	MV Agusta	ITA	1
27	Edgar PONS	Kalex	SPA
28	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	Kalex	ITA
29	Andi Farid IZDIHAR	Kalex	INA
30	Jesko RAFFIN	NTS	SWI
31	Kasma DANIEL	Kalex	MAL

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

Moto2™ – Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Jorge Martin becomes a home hero for KTM with debut Moto2™ win.

88-jorge-martin-esp_dsc8770.small

33-enea-bastianini_dsc0210_1.small

_dsc1595_0.small

myWorld MOTORRAD GRAND PRIX VON ÖSTERREICH

Moto2 World Standing 2020

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