Daily Times

SPIELBERG BEI KNITTELFELD: South African Brad Binder won the Austrian MotoGP on Sunday after gambling not to change bikes when heavy rain began to fall in the closing laps. Unlike his rivals, Binder opted to stay out on slick tyres and skillfully held off the field to win his second ever MotoGP. “Sometimes you have to take the gamble and today it worked,” said KTM rider Binder in the post-race press conference. The Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) swapped to his wet weather machine and passed six riders on the final lap on his way to snatching second place, finishing almost 10secs behind Binder.

Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing), who won last week’s Styrian GP on the same track and started this race on pole, claimed a third podium of the season after also swapping bikes in the closing stages. When the rain came down with four laps to go five of the top six —- Bagnaia, Marc Marquez, Fabio Quartararo, Martin, Joan Mir —- who were struggling to keep their bikes on the road dived into the pit lane to change machines. Binder, however, gambled on his ability to handle his bike on the slicks in the rain.

Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) could only finish seventh but that did not prevent him from increasing his lead in the world championship from 40 to 47 points. He benefitted from the fall of his compatriot Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac), who was running second at the time. Zarco slipped to fourth in the standings, two points behind Bagnaia and the Spaniard Joan Mir (Suzuki) who finished fourth, ahead of the Italian Luca Marini (Ducati-Avintia) and the Spaniard Iker Lecuona (KTM-Tech3), who did not change bikes either. Veteran Valentino Rossi, who is retiring at the end of the season, guided his Yamaha-SRT to eighth while six-time world champion Marc Marquez (Honda) came off his bike on the penultimate lap and had to settle for 15th. The next round will take place at the Silverstone circuit in Great Britain on August 29.