Spielberg bei Knittelfeld, Austria: Rookie Jorge Martin of Ducati-Pramac cruised to his first MotoGP victory in the Styria Grand Prix on Sunday, finishing comfortably ahead of compatriot and reigning champion Joan Mir on a Suzuki.
French championship leader Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha was third in a race that had to be restarted after the KTM of Spaniard Dani Pedrosa and the Aprilia of Italian Lorenzo Savadori caught fire in the middle of the track following a crash.
Martin grabbed the lead after some early jostling and pulled away to finish 1.58sec ahead of reigning MotoGP champion Mir.
“I don’t believe it. That’s why I’m not so excited,” said Martin, who dedicated his victory in only his sixth MotoGP race to his grandfather who is in hospital.
“The last laps I was thinking a lot of things,” he said. “That’s why I did worse in the last laps but I had this gap to manage.”
Mir, meanwhile, recorded the best result of his title defence.
“Today was close,” he said. “I needed a couple of 10ths per lap to fight with Jorge.”
