The Italian arrives and conquers for his first win in more than a year as Acosta is forced to settle for second and Ogura completes the rostrum
The CryptoDATA Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich delivered blockbuster action as Celestino Vietti (Fantic Racing) picked off rider by rider in a superb charge to victory. The Italian wasn’t settling for anything other than the top step as he denied Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and KTM the victory in Austria. The Spaniard put in a clever ride, however, to strengthen his Championship position as Ai Ogura (IDEMISTU Honda Team Asia) continued his podium form in P3.
It was Acosta who took the holeshot down into turn 1 as Jake Dixon (Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team) shot up into P2, with Ogura keeping himself in the mix. Acosta got into his groove and began to pull away from the rest of the field, meanwhile, Dixon was coming under pressure from Ogura who eventually got the better of the Brit to put himself into P2.
Dixon then fell into the clutches of Vietti, who was on an absolute charge. The Italian pushed his way past the GASGAS man and then had Ogura locked in his sights. Acosta led the way by a second and a half at the front, but Vietti was the man on the move as he pounced on Ogura with eleven laps to go.
The Japanese rider had no response for the Italian as he proceeded to put down a scintillating pace and started to reel in the race leader. With six laps remaining Vietti was all over the rear wheel of Acosta and wasted no time at all in pushing his way past the Championship leader, arriving and immediately making a move. Acosta tried all he could to cling onto Vietti but had no answer for Italian who put in an inch-perfect performance to take the victory by 1.435s.
Acosta took a crucial 20 points towards his title tilt with Ogura taking a second podium in three races. Jake Dixon missed out on the podium one second back from the Japanese rider, with Somkiat Chantra (IDEMISTU Honda Team Asia) rounding out the top five.
Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) took sixth place and lost some key points to his title rival Acosta.
Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) was one of the crashers as well as Alonso Lopez (CAG SpeedUp) and Manuel Gonzalez (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Team). Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) and Darryn Binder (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) crashed out early on as they fell victim to the Turn 2a-2b chicane, Binder crashing and Lowes collecting the South African. Binder was declared unfit due to fractured vertebrae.
He’ll need to rest up as attention now turns to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain where Acosta will be looking to further extend his Championship lead. Can he get the job done on home turf? Find out in two weeks!
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