Ducati Lenovo
The Ducati Lenovo Team completed the Austrian Grand Prix, the fifteenth round of the season. At the Red Bull Ring, Marc Márquez finished the race in fifth position, while Francesco Bagnaia crossed the finish line seventh.
Márquez, after a good start, lost three positions on the first lap and moved to fifth place. He later managed to find the rhythm and recover to fourth position. However, an exit from the track on the tenth lap made him momentarily lose the pace, dropping to seventh position. Marc managed to recover again to finish fifth. For his part, Bagnaia gained a position at the start and showed good pace in the early stages of the race. After falling to seventh position, Pecco defended well until the chequered flag.
At the end of the fifteenth Grand Prix of the season, Marc Marquez is second in the standings with 294 points. Francesco Bagnaia is in ninth position, 138 points behind his teammate. The Ducati Lenovo Team is second in the teams’ standings with 450 points, while Ducati is second in the constructors’ standings with 432 points.
The Ducati Lenovo Team will return to the track on Friday, October 2 for the first day of the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.
Marc Marquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 5th
“We had some difficulties this weekend. Even so, we managed to be fast, but unfortunately today in the race, from the first lap, I had some problems under braking that made everything more complicated and did not allow me to be consistent. In the end we managed to finish in fifth position and I am happy, because there was a moment in the race when I was very close to retiring. This weekend our rivals were faster than us. We simply have to learn from this weekend and try to arrive prepared for Motegi.”
Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 7th
“On balance, it was a good race, especially considering the results of the previous three Grands Prix. It wasn’t easy, because the conditions were different and we couldn’t find the right traction, at the same time we lost a lot of grip. After five laps I decided to increase the pace by half a second to try to reach the end in the best possible way. This allowed me, in the final part, to reduce the gap to Aldeguer and Binder. Unfortunately, around the sixth lap I started to have a small problem with the brakes that didn’t help me stop the bike. Even so, I managed to react in the right way and finish the race well.”
KTM Factory Racing
A sun-kissed Red Bull Ring shone brightly for the last European Grand Prix before the flyway sequence of the 2026 calendar. Red Bull KTM took to the MotoGP grid for 28 laps with Pedro Acosta on the front row, Brad Binder in P11, Pol Espargaro, deputizing for Maverick Viñales for the third race in a row, in P14 and Enea Bastianini in P17.
Acosta, who had been a fraction of a second from Pole Position on Saturday and led the majority of the Sprint, barged into the top three from the second circulation. He hassled the rear wheel of Jorge Martin until he was able to take lead on lap 8 and then managed the distance over his pursuers. Pedro crossed the line a second ahead of Martin to join Miguel Oliveira (2020) and Brad Binder (2021) as KTM RC16 Grand Prix winners in Spielberg. The landmark was also notable for the Spaniard, nearly three seasons into his MotoGP career and after 56 starts on Austrian technology.
Binder scorched to the top six after five laps. The South African then found 5th at mid-race distance and engaged in more battling Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia. Brad persisted with his pace, the only rider with the soft front tire choice and grabbed 6th for his efforts.
Bastianini grabbed a few positions at the outset and pushed all race to try and breach the top ten. He was just 0.3 of a second away at the end and classified 11th. Espargaro was bustled by others on the first lap and lost some time but rallied to 16th and only just missed out on GP points.
MotoGP enters a 2027 test at the Red Bull Ring on Monday before boxing-up for the flyaways to Japan, Indonesia, Australia and Malaysia in the coming weeks.
Pedro Acosta, 1st and 4th in the championship: “The first one is always special, and in front of so many Austrian fans. There were many KTM t-shirts and I’m so happy for the team, they deserve it more than me. I had many good people around yesterday when I f**ked up. This result was amazing.”
Brad Binder, 6th and 13th in the championship: “Overall, I’d say a successful weekend here in Red Bull Ring and I’m happy to have got my best finish of the year. I would have liked to have been a bit further up the grid but I did my best. Happy with the pace we were able to put together and happy with the work by the team. Well done to them, and also to Pedro on his first victory; I’m sure it’s the first of many.”
Enea Bastianini, 11th and 12th in the championship: “More or less like the Sprint for me. I was a bit surprised because my feeling was better but, checking the data, the soft front tire should have been better. It was impossible for the race because it moves in the slipstream. It was critical. Anyway, I expected a bit more and it didn’t happen. It did for Pedro though…he had an incredible race.”
Pol Espargaro, 16th and 25th in the championship: “I started to fight with the guys but ran wide into Turn 4 and when I came back Enea hit me and destroyed my side aero. I lost a lot then but then my rhythm was pretty good. I recovered and caught some riders…but it was a bit too late to do more. I’m pretty pissed-off because today we had the pace to do a pretty good race and be going for P10-P11 but everything changed in the blink of an eye. Really good for Pedro; he deserved this win earlier.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Super-special day. We had some challenges this summer and if we think about the last two years there have been hard moments and good moments and I cannot say how grateful I am for everybody who is in the process. We have such a good project with many great, passionate and professional people around…and when you have a rider like Pedro, this is what you can expect. From Friday we could see the bike, the track and maybe the tire compound suited us – both riders – and we went to the maximum. We had some disappointment yesterday but today we took our chance. Pedro was a 16-year-old when I started working with him and we won Moto3 in the first season. It’s been a great road since. I feel there is the chance to learn from every rider and we’re thankful to him and that kind of talent.”
Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsports Director: “Big emotions. We have come out of some tough moments since 2024. The company is back in shape…but we also had our issues on the track this summer: we responded from those with 2nd in Aragon, 3rd in Misano and then winning our home Grand Prix. It is something we could not have imagined a few weeks ago. I’m so happy for the team, for the factory and I also want to give this as a present to all KTM because we all fought to come out of a crisis. We are back. This is what we are fighting for. I am the happiest man and this is the happiest team on the planet. Thanks to KTM, thanks to them and thanks to Pedro who is an amazing rider.”
Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing
The Austrian GP – which marks the end of the European races before the Overseas – ended with a Top10 for the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team thanks to Fabio Di Giannantonio’s ninth place. Franco Morbidelli crossed the finish line of the Spielberg race in eighteenth place.
Di Giannantonio had a good start from the third row which allowed him to gain a position. Fabio showed a good rhythm and fought with determination to stay in the first ten places. Despite the Spielberg circuit not being particularly well suited to him, the rider from Rome was able to hold his own, crossing the finish line in ninth place. Di Giannantonio is fifth in the World Standing with 230 points.
A difficult start from the seventh row forced Morbidelli to recover some places after losing two positions. Despite the difficulties which led him to the twenty-second place, Franco bounced back crossing the finish line of the Austrian GP in eighteenth place. Morbidelli is now sixteenth in the World Standing with 56 points.
The Austrian GP marks the end of the European leg of the season, and the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team is back on track in two weeks for the Japanese GP, which will kick off the MotoGP Overseas from the 2nd to the 4th of October.
Fabio Di Giannantonio – 49
“Overall, it was a tough weekend, but this morning we made a change to improve the feeling of the rear grip and we made some steps forward for the race. This helped us, and in the first laps I was quite competitive, but then I started to struggle. We’re having some difficulties now, but the potential is very high and we are fast. We stay positive because we know we can come back to the top.”
Franco Morbidelli – 21
“It was a difficult race and a tough weekend overall. I was expecting more and I wasn’t as fast as I wanted. It’s hard to accept that, but this result will be useful to keep working even more deeply both with the Team and with Ducati to come back to the performances we can have. Anyway, I am lucky beacuse I have a special team, we try to work to come back in front and giving our best even more.”
Pablo Nieto – Team Manager
“Our weekend was harder than usual, but we knew it because we’ve always struggled here at Spielberg. However, I think we’ve been working well throughout all the weekend and we must understand what went wrong to avoid having the same issues. Anyway, in thie European leg there were many positives, we learned a lot and made steps forward. Now the Overseas is just around the corner, I think we can perform well there and we will be able to understand how to improve even more until the end of the season.”
Honda HRC Castrol
An intense weekend of work for the Honda HRC Castrol team came down to 28-laps on Sunday afternoon in the Austrian hills as both Honda RC213Vs lined up for Round 15 of the 2026 MotoGP World Championship. With both Takaaki Nakagami and Luca Marini having built steadily over the weekend for this moment, their targets were clear.
Takaaki Nakagami’s weekend has followed a clear trajectory throughout: upward. This progress would not halt on Sunday as the #30 put in a commendable ride from 18th to 13th, finishing just a tenth shy of Raul Fernandez. Having spent the vast majority of his time with the new 850cc project this year, the Austrian GP weekend’s performance demonstrates Nakagami’s deep connection with and understanding of the Honda RC213V having spent his entire Premier Class life with the machine. These are Nakagami’s first MotoGP points since he scored a sensational sixth at the French GP in 2025 held in mixed conditions. A perfect foundation for his home wildcard coming up in Motegi.
Sunday would be much more complicated than anticipated for Luca Marini, the Italian tangling with several riders in the first lap and losing important time early on. Keeping calm, he shifted his attentions to hunting down his rivals later in the race when they began to struggle with tyre life. This late charge saw Marini pass fellow Honda rider Diogo Moreira, the Italian trying to catch his teammate for the weekend Nakagami but ultimately unable to close the gap with just a handful of laps to go. Despite continuing his run of point-scoring finishes, Marini’s ambitions remain much higher than 14th place.
The Honda HRC Castrol team will remain at the Red Bull Ring for a one-day private test ahead of the new era of MotoGP starting in 2027. Afterwards, the MotoGP paddock will head for the Japanese GP – Honda HRC’s home race.
Takaaki Nakagami 30
Honda HRC Castrol
“A great result today, I am of course really happy with how we have worked as a team this weekend. In the Sprint we got some good information for today and made some changes, especially on the electronics side, to help us manage. 28 laps were really tough with the direction that we went, I had to be super precise, but I knew that in the second half of the race I would have more tyre. I wasn’t expecting to finish ahead of some of the riders I did, so we have to be pleased. Let’s keep raising the level in Motegi with the Test Team. Tomorrow, I go back to my ‘normal’ job – a very busy period now.”
Luca Marini 10
Honda HRC Castrol
“I had a lot of contact on the first lap, and I lost a lot of time, so I just focused on staying calm and managing everything for the last laps. Unfortunately, most people managed the situation, and we could not make as big of a late comeback as I was hoping for. We’ve worked a lot on the bike all weekend, right up until the race to try and find more grip in the rear. It didn’t work as we expected and it has been a tough Sunday. Congratulations to Taka, he showed his speed and put together a good weekend.”
Aprilia Racing
The weekend in Austria ended with another podium for the Aprilia Racing factory riders after the one they earned in the sprint race.
Jorge Martín had an outstanding start from pole position, maintaining first place when the red lights went out. The Spanish rider then rode his RS-GP26 to a second-place finish when the chequered flag came out. With his win in the sprint race on Saturday, Martín had taken back the championship lead, and at the end of the Austrian GP, he remains at the top of the standings with 286 points.
Marco Bezzecchi also had an extraordinary start from the fourth spot on the grid, moving into second place straight away. The Italian rider then finished third, finishing up a weekend of podium placements after taking third in the sprint race.
Finishing fourth was Ai Ogura, with the SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team, back after his injury to repeat the result of the sprint race. This gave Aprilia three RS-GP26 machines in the top four positions.
Aprilia Racing closes out the weekend in Austria with their first double podium ever on the Spielberg track, both in the sprint race and in the long race, as well as another significant result – four consecutive pole positions taken in Silverstone, Aragón, Misano, and Austria – a milestone which the Noale-based manufacturer had never before.
JORGE MARTÍN
“It was a great weekend. Getting back to this level of speed and having good fitness after the doubts in Misano make me extremely happy. I wanted to fight for the win, but battling with Pedro was quite difficult, although I tried all the way to the end.”
MARCO BEZZECCHI
“We truly achieved the maximum, and I’m pleased with the way I improved throughout the weekend. My performance wasn’t bad on Friday, but I wasn’t on par with the leaders. Saturday, we managed to remediate, even with a bit of luck. In the race, on the other hand, I think it was truly a good result. At the end, I got very close to Jorge. I may have missed the opportunity to try and overtake on turn 1 because of a small mistake, but in any case, I gave it one hundred percent.”
MASSIMO RIVOLA
“Congratulations to Pedro and KTM for their first win. I know how satisfying it is to achieve that in a home race. It was a great weekend for us, where Marco demonstrated growth and consistency, and Jorge showed us – especially on Saturday – a ride truly worthy of a World Champion. The road is still long, and our rivals are extremely strong, especially for the next round in Motegi, so we had better get to work straight away. We have an important test tomorrow with the Pirelli tyres on the 850cc and we also need to work to be competitive on a tough track.”
Monster Energy Yamaha
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo showed promising pace in the first half of the 28-lap the Grand Prix of Austria Race. He battled hard inside the top 10, while Álex Rins recovered positions after a difficult start. However, neither rider was ultimately able to challenge for points, with Quartararo finishing 17th and Rins crossing the line in 19th place.
Quartararo started from ninth on the grid and moved up to eighth on the opening lap. However, he was judged to have exceeded track limits in Turn 1 and gained an advantage, resulting in an instruction to drop one position. Losing another place in that same lap 2, the Frenchman fell to tenth before overtaking Fabio Di Giannantonio on lap 4 to reclaim ninth. Quartararo defended the position strongly for much of the race but lost out to the Italian on lap 14. As tyre degradation began to take its toll, he gradually slipped down the order and ultimately finished in 17th, 30.140s from the race winner.
Rins lined up in 20th and found himself in 22nd place in the early stages before passing Franco Morbidelli on lap 3. Overtaking Jack Miller four laps later moved him back into 20th position, and he gained another place when he passed Toprak Razgatlıoğlu on lap 9. With a sizeable gap to the riders ahead, the Spaniard focused on maintaining his rhythm. Álex Márquez’ crash on lap 13 promoted him to 18th, though Morbidelli later found a way through on lap 20. Rins continued to push until the chequered flag, taking 19th place, 34.413s from first.
After today’s Race, Quartararo remains 15th in the championship standings with 61 points, while Rins stays 20th with 24 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP are 10th in the team classification with 85 points, and Yamaha hold 5th place in the constructor standings with 84 points.
The MotoGP paddock will now enjoy a one-week break before travelling to the Mobility Resort Motegi for the Grand Prix of Japan, taking place from 2-4 October.
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MASSIMO MEREGALLI
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
“Today was a difficult race for us. Fabio had a strong first half and was fighting inside the top 10 despite losing positions early on after the track-limits penalty. He managed the situation well and was able to fend off Di Giannantonio for a long time, but tyre degradation became a significant factor in the second half of the race and prevented him from maintaining that position until the finish. Álex’ Race was similar to the Sprint: he lost some positions at the start. Though he made up places throughout the race, the final results do not fully reflect the effort from neither the riders, nor from the team this weekend. We will use the data gathered here to continue our work and prepare for Motegi – Yamaha’s home GP.”
FABIO QUARTARARO
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
“I tried to stay with Pecco [Bagnaia] in the first laps, but I knew I was going to use a lot of my tyres and that it would be difficult to be inside the points today. Overall, I was happy with my qualifying this weekend, but in the Sprint – and also today in the Race – we had a lot of wheelspin. I tried my best. I preferred to push to the limit in the first ten laps, and I enjoyed the race until [Fabio] Di Giannantonio overtook me.”
ÁLEX RINS
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
“I had two options in the beginning of the race: burn through the tyres and overtake the riders ahead of me and try to go, or wait to mid-race to overtake them and do my own pace. Our pace was not as expected. When I saw that Morbidelli was catching me, I was trying to analyse his riding and ride in a good way, but I couldn’t stay with him. So, overall, it was just a hard weekend for us.”
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