Marquez and Mir keep their cool to challenge for points in Austrian Sprint
An incident-filled Sprint at the Red Bull Ring saw the Repsol Honda Team pair avoid major issues and collect valuable laps with HRC’s new aerodynamics package.
Aero work continued for Marc Marquez as he spent the day with the new package equipped on both his machines. Overnight work by the Repsol Honda Team and HRC engineers improved the #93’s feeling. A tricky Q1 saw Marquez unable to improve on a 1’29.479, lining up in 18th place as a result. When the lights went out for the Saturday Sprint, there was drama as soon as the first corner as a number of riders made contact and fell. Marc Marquez avoided the incident as he focused on chasing down the top ten. Sitting just behind Morbidelli for much of the race, Marquez put up a spirited defence as Viñales worked to recover from earlier problems. Crossing the line in tenth, Marquez narrowly missed out on a return to the points scoring positions.
After a trying Friday, Joan Mir was able to unlock more of his potential on Saturday at the Red Bull Ring. The #36 led the Honda RC213V riders in Qualifying, earning 16th on the grid, two spots ahead of his teammate and prepared for the 14-lap dash. A good initial launch would see Mir gain several places but falls ahead into Turn One would force him to sit up and quickly lose those positions. From here it was a case of recovery for the 2020 World Champion, eventually crossing the line in 12th place. Just over two seconds behind his Repsol Honda Team stablemate, Mir was pleased with the progress made so far in the weekend.
Sunday’s Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich is scheduled to start at 14:00 Local Time. The Repsol Honda Team once again head into the weekend’s main event aiming to continue development work with an eye on the future.
Marc Marquez
“It was an interesting Sprint, when I tried the new aero yesterday I knew more or less what would happen in the Sprint – and it did happen. So it was good in a way to understand this new aero more. We’ve been working with a lot of different setups over the weekend, but we have a clear idea for what to do tomorrow. We benefitted a lot from the falls of others, we have to be honest. Without this we would have been in 15th position more or less. We keep on working and see what we can achieve in tomorrow’s main race.”
Joan Mir
“I think today we were able to make a step over what we have had. I had a bit of trouble in the first corner with the problems in front so I lost all the positions I made at the start. After this I settled into my race and I was able to recover many positions, keeping a similar pace for the riders fighting for fifth to tenth. This shows we have had some improvements and I was able to be faster, let’s see what happens tomorrow. ”
Austrian GP - Sprint Race
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Points | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bagnaia Francesco | 1 | ITA | 12 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 21'01.844 |
| 2 | Binder Brad | 33 | RSA | 9 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 2.056 |
| 3 | Martin Jorge | 89 | SPA | 7 | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 5.045 |
| 4 | Marquez Alex | 73 | SPA | 6 | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 8.252 |
| 5 | Miller Jack | 43 | AUS | 5 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 11.365 |
| 6 | Espargaro Pol | 44 | SPA | 4 | Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing | KTM | 11.816 |
| 7 | Espargaro Aleix | 41 | SPA | 3 | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 11.960 |
| 8 | Vinales Maverick | 12 | SPA | 2 | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 11.984 |
| 9 | Morbidelli Franco | 21 | ITA | 1 | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 13.634 |
| 10 | Marquez Marc | 93 | SPA | 0 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 14.435 |
| 11 | Di Giannantonio Fabio | 49 | ITA | 0 | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 15.251 |
| 12 | Mir Joan | 36 | SPA | 0 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 16.740 |
| 13 | Bastianini Enea | 23 | ITA | 0 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 18.825 |
| 14 | Fernandez Raul | 25 | SPA | 0 | RNF MotoGP Team | Aprilia | 19.536 |
| 15 | Quartararo Fabio | 20 | FRA | 0 | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 22.321 |
| 16 | Lecuona Iker | 27 | SPA | 0 | LCR Honda | Honda | 25.593 |
| 17 | Fernandez Augusto | 37 | SPA | 0 | Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing | KTM | 25.789 |
| 18 | Zarco Johann | 5 | FRA | DNF | Pramac Racing | Ducati | DNF |
| 19 | Marini Luca | 10 | ITA | DNF | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | DNF |
| 20 | Savadori Lorenzo | 32 | ITA | DNF | Aprilia Racing Test Team | Aprilia | DNF |
| 21 | Nakagami Takaaki | 30 | JPN | DNF | LCR Honda | Honda | DNF |
| 22 | Bezzecchi Marco | 72 | ITA | DNF | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | DNF |
| 23 | Oliveira Miguel | 88 | POR | DNF | RNF MotoGP Team | Aprilia | 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 | 1m28.539s (176.7 Km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2023) |
| Race Lap | 1m29.840s (174.2 Km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2023) |
| Race Time | 42'14.886 (172.8 Km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2022) |
| 2023 Race Winner | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) |
| 2023 Sprint Winner | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) |
