AustrianGP Moto3 Race: Joan Mir above the fray

The two favorites for the title stuck in the peloton and outsiders in the front rows, this Austrian Moto3 Grand Prix smelled of powder as soon as you read the starting grid. THE warm up What's more, it was revealed that the duo in a duel for the crown was particularly lively. Under mild skies and a dry track at just over 26°, everything was in place for an exciting eleventh meeting of the season.

Before diving into it, here is the summary table to jolt our memory:

 

#AustrianGP Moto3™	2016	2017
FP1	1'37.902 Brad Binder	1'37.549 Joan Mir (see here)
FP2	1'37.070 Brad Binder	1'39.136 Aron Canet
FP3	1'36.548 Brad Binder	1'36.829 Enean Bastianini
Qualification	1'36.228 Joan Mir	1'36.784 Joan Mir
Warm up	1'37.203 Enea Bastianini	1'36.784 Joan Mir
Course	Mir, Binder, Bastianini (see here)
All time lap record	1'36.228 Mir 2016

 

The released pack showed a McPhee ambitious who took the lead in the first turns before Bendsneyder does not take over the race after the first completed lap. bastianini followed as McPhee et Canet in the same way Rodrigo. Further back, Mir was tenth and fenati twelfth before slipping to sixteenth position following braking that was a little too optimistic.

After three laps, the Ajo KTM rider built up a small lead over a peloton still in full fight and led by Canet. Dallas Port was falling.

Mir was seventh with the best time in the race and fenati only seventeenth. But it's George Martin who made the effort and took the lead to the detriment of the young Dutchman at the KTM. A message understood by the Leopard driver, leader of the championship, who, one lap later, and at the cost of a certain effort, took control of the Grand Prix!

An ease that Mir updated the following laps a little more by trying to drop a compact and furious peloton where Oettl invited himself. But fenati, sixteenth, was still absent. Bendsneyder made a slight error which put him eighth behind bastianini, Rodrigo, Migno, McPhee, Martin et Oettl, all gone hunting for Mir.

Ten laps from the goal, a certain farmhouse replacement of Darryn binder injured made headlines by taking sixth place. But all these adventures allowed Mir to escape slowly but surely. The winner here last year was building his second lead, promised to be decisive for a new success this year.

Far from his struggles, Antonelli fell, hung by Suzuki in distress, then McPhee et Bendsneyder clashed violently at turn 1, the Batavian hitting the Scot after a failed braking. The last third of the race began with a Mir leader in front Migno just over three seconds back and at the head of a group where farmhouse revealed himself brilliantly to the world.

At turn 1, Migno made a mistake and abandoned all hope of a podium. A hope, however, still alive for thirteen other pilots in a pocket handkerchief! Among them, one Law, returned from the Vauvert Devil and third with four laps to go.

The epilogue was signed Mir who took his seventh victory in eleven races completed this year. A performance all the more remarkable as fenati, his least distant in the title race, had to settle for thirteenth place. The podium is completed by Oettl, Martin and the first of the disappointed is called Law who is ahead Canet, By Giannantonio Rodrigo, Norrodin, the excellent farmhouse et bastianini. Danilo is sixteenth.

However, Law hoped to find a smile again upon learning that Martin had crossed the checkered flag outside the limits of the track... Far from these considerations, Mir is more than ever at the top of its championship, with 64 points ahead of fenati, 78 on Canet and totally 110 on Martin.

#AustrianGP Moto3 Race: Ranking

1. Joan mir SPA Leopard Racing (Honda) 37m 23.124s 
2. Philipp Oettl GER Südmetall Schedl GP Racing (KTM) 37m 26.169s 
3. George Martin SPA Del Conca Gresini Moto3 (Honda) 37m 26.501s 
4. Livio Law BEL Leopard Racing (Honda) 37m 26.509s 
5. Aron canet SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 (Honda) 37m 26.626s 
6. Fabio DiGiannantonio ITA Del Conca Gresini Moto3 (Honda) 37m 26.854s 
7. gabriel rodrigo ARG RBA BOE Racing Team (KTM) 37m 26.928s 
8. Adam Norrodin MAL SIC Racing Team (Honda) 37m 27.307s 
9. James Masia SPA Platinum Bay Real Estate (KTM) 37m 27.434s 
10. Enea Bastianini ITA Estrella Galicia 0,0 (Honda) 37m 27.982s 
11. Nicholas Bulega ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (KTM) 37m 28.011s 
12. Marcos Ramirez SPA Platinum Bay Real Estate (KTM) 37m 28.178s 
13. Roman Fenati ITA Marinelli Rivacold Snipers (Honda) 37m 28.204s 
14. Juanfran Guevara SPA RBA BOE Racing Team (KTM) 37m 30.139s 
15. Kaito Toba JPN Honda Team Asia (Honda) 37m 39.370s 
16. Jules Danilo FRA Marinelli Rivacold Snipers (Honda) 37m 39.571s 
17. Tony Arbolino ITA SIC58 Squadra Corse (Honda) 37m 39.573s 
18. Ayumu Sasaki JPN SIC Racing Team (Honda) 37m 39.777s 
19. Manuel Pagliani ITA CIP (Mahindra) 37m 39.797s 
20. Jakub Kornfeil CZE Peugeot MC Saxoprint (Peugeot) 37m 40.201s 
21. Andrea Migno ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (KTM) 37m 58.108s 
22. Maria Herrera SPA AGR Team (KTM) 38m 6.731s 
23. Maximilian Kofler AUT Motorsport Kofler EU (KTM) 38m 20.998s 
24. Patrick Pulkkinen END Peugeot MC Saxoprint (Peugeot) 38m 21.106s 
Marco Bezzecchi ITA CIP (Mahindra) DNF 
Albert Arenas SPA Aspar Mahindra Moto3 (Mahindra) DNF 
Nakarin Atiratphuvapat THA Honda Team Asia (Honda) DNF 
John mcphee GBR British Talent Team (Honda) DNF 
Will Bendsneyder NED Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) DNF 
Niccolo Antonelli ITA Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) DNF 
Tatsuki suzuki JPN SIC58 Squadra Corse (Honda) DNF 
Lorenzo Dalla Porta ITA Aspar Mahindra Moto3 (Mahindra) DNF 
Gabriel Martinez Abrego MEX Motomex Team Moto3 (KTM) DNF