MOTORCYCLING – SIX-TIMES MotoGP champion Marc Marquez marked the 1,000th premier class race in history by winning the Austrian Grand Prix for the first time in his career to take a mammoth 142-point lead over his brother Alex in the championship.
Having won Saturday’s sprint from the second row, Marquez claimed the sprint-race double for the sixth Grand Prix in a row, with the Spaniard unbeaten since the British Grand Prix in May.
Not since 2014 had Marquez claimed six Grand Prix wins on the bounce as he inches closer to a seventh MotoGP crown with nine rounds left.
Gresini Racing rookie Fermin Aldeguer found late race pace to finish second while Aprilia’s pole sitter Marco Bezzecchi, who kept Marquez at bay for as long as he could, finished third. Alex Marquez finished 10th after serving a long-lap penalty.
Bezzecchi had claimed his first pole with Aprilia on Saturday and despite finishing fourth in the sprint, this time he had the perfect launch to lead Francesco Bagnaia and Marquez into turn one.
The two Ducatis went side by side on lap one when Marquez briefly overtook his teammate but Bagnaia did not relent and took the place back to stay in second.
However, Marquez made the same move on the next lap to take second and set his sights on Bezzecchi, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce.
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