Portugal’s Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) was hit by Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati) in the first corner of the sprint race of the Austrian Grand Prix of MotoGP this Saturday and had to retire.
Miguel Oliveira is out of the sprint race after a big mess at the start of the race! #sporttvportugal #MOTOGPnaSPORTTV #MotoGP #AustrianGP #betanomotogp pic.twitter.com/KqOS8Q51sD
– SPORTTV (@SPORTTVPortugal) August 19, 2023
The race was won by World Championship leader Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) beating South African Brad Binder (KTM) by 2.056 seconds, with Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati) in third place by 5.045 seconds .
Pecco Bagnaia wins the sprint race #sporttvportugal #MOTOGPnaSPORTTV #MotoGP #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/p0pMy07Jpd
– SPORTTV (@SPORTTVPortugal) August 19, 2023
Leaving pole position, Bagnaia had to control the KTM of Brad Binder, who today extended his contract with the Austrian marque until 2026, and Australian Jack Miller, but led from the first to the last lap.
Miguel Oliveira started from eighth on the grid, between Italian Marco Bezzecchi and Frenchman Fábio Quartararo (Yamaha).
In the first corner the Frenchman was pressured by Spaniard Jorge Martin, he hit compatriot Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) who in turn hit Bezzecchi, who eventually threw Oliveira onto the gravel.
Johann Zarco (Ducati) and Enea Bastianini (Ducati) were also involved in the incident, but only the Portuguese and Bezzecchi retired on the first lap.
This time, however, and unlike what happened in Portimão and Jerez de la Frontera, without any physical consequences for the Portuguese rider.
Anyway, this was the Portuguese’s 16th retirement in MotoGP, half of which were caused by opponents.
With these results, Francesco Bagnaia now has 226 points, against 180 for Jorge Martin, who is second, while Miguel Oliveira retains fifth place with 40 points.
The main race takes place on Sunday.
Source: DN
