KTM broke records in Styria, Austria on Sunday (August 23) with South Africa’s Brad Binder left to rue a wide turn in corner 1 late in the race, as KTM Red Bull rival Miguel Oliviera took the chequered flag on KTM home soil – a first for the team and a first for Oliviera on the occasion of the 900th MotoGP race. Binder finished in 8th, one place ahead of MogotGP legend Valentino Rossi.
Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) on a Ducati GP20 and Pol Espergaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) were surprised by Oliviera in the last turn of the race as the 2019 rookie came through to win in sensational style as MotoGP notched up another dramatic weekend of racing, with Oliviera taking a first for himself, his team and his country.
Miller (2nd) and Espergago (3rd) were followed home by Joan Mir who had initially led the race, putting himself into a commanding position two seconds clear ahead of the pack until the race was forced to re-start with 12 laps to go. The red flag came out when Maverick Vinãles bailed on a corner and his machine hit the air barrier and caught fire. Mir looked good from pole position on the restart but couldn’t hold off the KTM’s and the Ducati.
Oliviera and Binder were scrapping for fourth towards the end of the race but with 5 laps to go, Binder ran wide on corner 1 and lost touch with the leading pack. Much-favoured Takaaki Nakagami was not able to put in the race everyone had expected of him and ended the race one up from Binder, in 7th, with last week’s winner, Andre Dovizioso in fifth.
Top 10:
1. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3)
2. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) + 0.316
3. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.540
4. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.641
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) + 1.414
6. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 1.450
7. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 1.864
8. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 4.150
9. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 4.517
10. Iker Lecuona (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 5.068
VIEW THE INSANE FINAL CORNER HERE: blob:https://www.motogp.com/8aead720-5c97-402a-a639-480460ca0299
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