Honda HRC Castrol show their fighting spirit in Spielberg Sprint
The competition only got tighter on the second day in Spielberg, narrow margins separating Luca Marini and Joan Mir as they finished nose to tail in a chaotic Sprint race. Both sides of the garage finding more pace for a Sunday recovery.
Starting the day with sixth place in a productive Free Practice 2 session, Luca Marini was primed to attack Q1. With a plethora of race winners and World Champions in the session, it was as tight as ever and a margin of just 0.2s saw Marini finish third in Q1 – ahead of Jorge Martin but just missing a transfer spot. Having shown stronger pace over longer runs, the #10 knew he had more for the Sprint and steadily picked his way through a chaotic start to the race. Battling with Quartararo and his Honda HRC Castrol teammate for the latter half, Marini took 12th at the flag and edged out Mir of just a tenth.
It was another unfortunately dramatic Sprint for Joan Mir who found himself taking avoiding action as the lights went out, Bagnaia’s slow-starting machine drifting across the track and pushing him wide. Last on the exit of Turn 1, Mir showed off his superior pace to work his way forward and join Marini in the battle for 12th. Showing strong pace throughout his comeback, the result puts the #36 in good stead for the full-length Sunday race where he is aiming to capitalise on his tenth-place start.
28-laps of Austrian Grand Prix action are scheduled to start at 14:00 Local Time in Spielberg.
Luca Marini
“Everyone was super lucky at the start today, could have been much worse. It’s tough to overtake here, so losing the time at the start stopped our race. I was able to do some good laps and take the most from it, a positive to get some information for Sunday. I’ve been happy with how my lap time has progressed over the course of the weekend, so if we can start in a better way then we can show our true potential.”
Joan Mir
“It was a really chaotic start and as a result, we had to take action to avoid making it more chaotic and trying to avoid what happened in the last four races. Then the race was about coming back and just trying to overtake as much as possible, which isn’t easy at this circuit as it’s probably one of the hardest to overtake on from the whole calendar. I was able to reach my teammate, maybe with more laps we could do more but with the situation at the start I am content with what we have done. It gives us something for Sunday.”
Austria GP - Sprint Race
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Points | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marquez Marc | 93 | SPA | 12 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 20'56.071 |
| 2 | Marquez Alex | 73 | SPA | 9 | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 1.180 |
| 3 | Acosta Pedro | 37 | SPA | 7 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 3.126 |
| 4 | Bezzecchi Marco | 72 | ITA | 6 | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 4.032 |
| 5 | Binder Brad | 33 | RSA | 5 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 4.782 |
| 6 | Aldegeur Fermin | 54 | SPA | 4 | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 6.032 |
| 7 | Bastianini Enea | 23 | ITA | 3 | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | KTM | 8.294 |
| 8 | Di Giannantonio Fabio | 49 | ITA | 2 | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 10.953 |
| 9 | Zarco Johann | 5 | FRA | 1 | LCR Honda | Honda | 11.999 |
| 10 | Martin Jorge | 89 | SPA | 0 | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 12.111 |
| 11 | Quartararo Fabio | 20 | FRA | 0 | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 13.387 |
| 12 | Marini Luca | 10 | ITA | 0 | Honda HRC Castrol | Honda | 13.704 |
| 13 | Mir Joan | 36 | SPA | 0 | Honda HRC Castrol | Honda | 13.822 |
| 14 | Morbidelli Franco | 21 | ITA | 0 | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 14.562 |
| 15 | Ogura Ai | 79 | JPN | 0 | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia | 18.414 |
| 16 | Rins Alex | 42 | SPA | 0 | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 19.365 |
| 17 | Miller Jack | 43 | AUS | 0 | Prima Pramac Yamaha | Yamaha | 20.844 |
| 18 | Oliveira Miguel | 88 | POR | 0 | Prima Pramac Yamaha | Yamaha | 21.581 |
| 19 | Fernandez Raul | 25 | SPA | DNF | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia | DNF |
| 20 | Bagnaia Francesco | 63 | ITA | DNF | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | DNF |
Location Information
The Red Bull Ring in Spielberg is located beautifully in the Murtal-region of Styria, Austria. The circuit was originally built in 1969, then known as the Österreichring. In 1996 it was rebuilt with the track-layout it still had when, in 2011, it was reopened as the Red Bull Ring and… read more.
| Length | 4.3 km / 2.68 miles |
| Width | 13 metres |
| Left corners | 3 |
| Right corners | 7 |
| Longest straight | 626 m / 2053.81 ft |
| Constructed | 1969 |
| Modified | 1996 |
Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Steiermark, Austria - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m27.748s (178.3 Km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducati, 2024) |
| Race Lap | 1m29.519s (174.8 Km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2024) |
| Race Time | 42'11.173 (173.1 Km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2024) |
| 2024 Race Winner | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) |
| 2025 Sprint Winner | Marc Marquez (Ducati) |
