MADRID, 17 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Motorcycle World Championship comes to the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix, tenth round of the calendar, starting this Friday, in a new opportunity for Jorge Martín (Ducati) to approach Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) in the World Championship of MotoGP, while Pedro Acosta (Kalex) and Daniel Holgado (KTM) seek to consolidate their leadership in Moto2 and Moto3.
With eleven races to go until the end of the season, the MotoGP World Championship comes to Austria with Bagnaia as the outstanding leader, with a 41-point advantage over Martín, while in Moto2, Acosta regained the lead at Silverstone, but he only has 2 points behind. margin over Tony Arbolino (Kalex). In Moto3, Holgado is the leader, with a margin of 22 over Ayumu Sasaki (Husqvarna).
In the last race in Great Britain, Bagnaia crashed in the sprint test, the first time he has not scored points on a Saturday, but he managed to fix it on Sunday, with a creditable second place, only behind Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) and beating Brad Binder (KTM) and Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) in a great race finale. In addition, Martín could only be sixth in both races, so the Italian came out with an even higher income.
This weekend in Austria, Pecco arrives at a circuit that he is great at, and in which he knows what it is to win up to three times, once in Moto2, in 2018, and twice in the premier class, the last one in 2022, in a spectacular battle with Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) that was not decided until the last turns.
Since the World Championship came to the Red Bull Ring in 2016, Ducati has been the absolute dominator, only in 2021 did victory escape them, which went to Brad Binder’s KTM. This, added to the superiority that the Italian brand is showing in this 2023, indicates that one of the eight Desmosedici will be on the top of the podium on Sunday in Spielberg.
As the great alternative to Bagnaia appears the best Spaniard so far in the event, Jorge Martín, who despite winning only one long race, the German GP, is making consistency his great asset. He is the only rider who has scored points every Saturday, having won two and on Sundays, despite starting with two zeros in the first three races, he has managed to recover and since Jerez his worst result is sixth place.
Very close to Martín appears one of the surprises of the year, Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati), who despite racing with the 2022 bike, is only 6 points behind the man from Madrid and 47 behind the world champion. The man in the VR46 has climbed to the top of the podium on two occasions, but the retirements in the race in Spain and Great Britain have left him behind his brand mates.
As an alternative to the Ducati, KTM appears, among which the South African Brad Binder stands out, who comes from being third in the last race and is fourth in the World Championship, yes, far from Pecco. In addition, Binder has been the only one capable of taking a victory at this circuit from Ducati since it has been raced on it. His teammate Jack Miller may also have copies of him, despite the fact that he is not in his best form.
The other Italian brand on the grid, Aprilia, arrives at a great moment. Aleix Espargaró won the last race and Maverick Viñales was among the best throughout the Grand Prix, despite only being able to be fifth. In Austria they will try to maintain the level, despite being a circuit that due to the characteristics of the bike should not be as favorable for them as the British one.
For Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) and his new focus after the break it will be a weekend of going step by step, as he did two weeks ago at Silverstone. The man from Cervera, seeking to rebuild his confidence and take steps with the Honda towards 2024, has never won at this circuit and it does not look like this will be the year.
ACOSTA WANTS TO CONSOLIDATE HIS LEADERSHIP, BAGGY TAKE MORE DISTANCE
Pedro Acosta from Murcia arrives in Austria with two points ahead of Arbolino in the Moto2 World Championship. The one from Mazarrón is showing great solidity, since despite being his second year in the category, he only failed in the French GP, at Le Mans, and afterwards he has been very stable, always managing to be on top, until he managed to get as leader taking advantage of the regular weekend of the Italian from Marc VDS in Silverstone.
With the fight between Acosta and Arbolino very hot, the second echelon of drivers is at 50 points, but as is being seen in a World Championship in which up to five drivers know what it is to win, each weekend is different. Men like Fermín Aldeguer and Alonso López (Speed Up) or Jake Dixon, Aron Canet, Sam Lowes or Filip Salac (Kalex) will have a lot to say throughout the Grand Prix.
For his part in Moto3, the Spanish Daniel Holgado also has a 22-point advantage over the Japanese Ayumu Sasaki, both are being the two most reliable in a very even World Championship. The Husqvarna rider achieved victory in 2022, so he could have one point of favoritism more than the rest of the riders.
In the eleven races held, up to five riders know what it is to win, and the equality of machines and the reduced distances on a circuit like the Austrian could make riders like the Turkish Deniz Oncu (KTM), the Brazilian Diogo Moreira (KTM ) or the Spanish Jaume Masia (Honda), third in the championship and who will seek to make up for the fall he suffered in Great Britain.
2023-08-17 16:44:14
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