MotoGP: Austria clean-sweep for Bagnaia and Michelin
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) swept the board at the CryptoDATA Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich, Round 10 of the 2023 MotoGPTM World Championship. In addition to claiming pole-position and Saturday's Sprint Race at the Red Bull Ring, the Italian also posted the fastest race-lap on his way to winning Sunday's grand prix. The confidence, performance and consistency delivered by Michelin's tires contributed to two new records at the demanding Austrian venue.
Bagnaia's speed, consistency and impeccable tire management helped him to beat Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Racing Factory) by a margin of five seconds on a combination of hard and medium MICHELIN Power Slicks front and rear. The result was his 16th career win at MotoGPTM level after clocking the fastest race-lap (1m29.840s) on the third of the afternoon's 28 laps.
Binder repeated his performance in Saturday's Sprint Race by securing second place for Austria-based KTM.
Marco Bezzecchi posted a new track lap-record (1m28.533s) on Friday and pocketed bronze on Sunday after starting seventh on the grid. His Mooney VR46 Racing Team team-mate Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) ended up fourth, watched by team boss Valentino Rossi who was in Austria all weekend. Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing Team) rounded out the day's top five.
Michelin's tires delivered consistent performance all weekend at the exacting Red Bull Ring and contributed to a new race-lap record as the track surface temperature soared to almost 50°C during Sunday's contest which saw all the riders opt for hard and medium tires front and rear. The only exception was Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) who chose the rear soft, more suited to his riding style.
Bagnaia has extended his lead at the top of the provisional Riders' standings to 62 and 66 clear of Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) and Bezzecchi respectively.
The Red Bull Ring also hosted the sixth meeting of the FIM ENEL MotoETM World Championship. Both races were won by Mattia Casadei (HP Pons Los40) but Kevin Zannoni (Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse) recorded a new MotoETM lap record for the circuit on his way to qualifying on pole. Jordi Torres (Openbank Aspar Team) continues to lead the provisional standings.
Michelin's MotoETM tires contain 34 and 52 percent sustainable materials front and rear, and the French firm views the all-electric series as an invaluable laboratory to test new technologies before they are carried over in part or in full to its road tires.