Reigning world champion Pecco Bagnaia made the remainder of the grid look fairly common within the Austrian Grand Prix as he powered off into the Purple Bull Ring sundown.
Nevertheless, with title rival Jorge Martin at the very least in a position to keep involved with Bagnaia via each races (even when he couldn’t match him), the title battle stays shut, separated by solely a handful of factors.
And naturally, whereas consideration is perhaps on the entrance pair, there was the standard drama behind them – extra, in actual fact, than there was on the entrance because the entertaining battle for fifth stored us awake throughout an in any other case fairly tedious race.
That, in fact, means plenty of metrics to make use of to rank the riders.
Scoring the grid so as primarily based on their performances not simply in the principle occasion but additionally Saturday’s dash race, it’s clearly all subjective – however comes not simply from their last race end result however takes under consideration issues just like the equipment they’re on and the pre-race expectations from them.
1 Pecco Bagnaia
Began: 2nd Dash: 1st Completed: 1st
There are a couple of tracks on the MotoGP calendar the place Bagnaia is at all times more likely to dominate. Jerez, Assen and the Purple Bull Ring are his playgrounds, and he completely didn’t fail to ship on this weekend’s journey to Austria.
Completely untouchable in each races and the best solution to defend a title.
2 Jorge Martin
Began: 1st Dash: 2nd Completed: 2nd
Martin’s fundamental takeaway from the Purple Bull Ring needs to be that he was in a position to fastidiously handle the hole within the championship standings to Bagnaia – as a result of let’s face it, he wasn’t in a position to do the identical factor within the races.
Merely not capable of finding sufficient to problem the reigning champion on the day, he did what he wanted to for the factors.
3 Enea Bastianini
Began: seventh Dash: 4th Completed: third
In most circumstances, Enea Bastianini’s weekend would depend as a strong one, however there’s one obtrusive subject: he had completely no reply in any respect for the 2 fellow Ducati riders forward of him.
Sure, he takes a strong haul of factors – but it surely is perhaps the weekend that greatest demonstrates why he gained’t be a title contender this 12 months.
4 Aleix Espargaro
Began: 4th Dash: third Completed: ninth
Given earlier type, an Aprilia has no enterprise in any respect being on the rostrum on the Purple Bull Ring, so it’s a testomony to Aleix Espargaro that he was in a position to one way or the other make his manner via the dash pack early on and capitalise on others’ errors.
Unable to again it as much as the identical extent on Sunday, his ninth within the grand prix nonetheless factored into this being an excellent weekend certainly and one of the best efficiency by anybody not on a Ducati.
5 Marc Marquez
Began: third Dash: DNF Completed: 4th
Marc Marquez’s outcomes clearly ought to have been higher on the Austrian Grand Prix. The six-time world champion threw away a possible podium on Saturday within the dash via a mistake wholly of his personal making, whereas his failure to correctly interact his begin units on Sunday left him on a wrecking ball path via the sector within the opening laps, which meant the rostrum battle forward of him escaped. Not a horrible fourth place, however extra was actually on supply for him.
6 Marco Bezzecchi
Began: ninth Dash: eighth Completed: sixth
Given the place Marco Bezzecchi has been of late (floundering considerably effectively exterior the highest 10), the Purple Bull Ring looks like one thing of a welcome return to type.
Nonetheless very a lot up in opposition to it on a tough GP23 machine that simply isn’t performing effectively sufficient to be way more aggressive, it’s nonetheless his first strong weekend in fairly a while and hopefully a constructing block fairly than a one-off.
7 Brad Binder
Began: twelfth Dash: seventh Completed: fifth
Brad Binder salvaging powerful weekends for KTM utilizing his intensive data of the RC16 bike is changing into one thing of a pattern amid the agency’s mid-season hunch.
Although not even near the outcomes KTM would have been hoping for on house floor, at the very least Binder was in a position to get himself into the battle for the highest six and guarantee some TV protection on an in any other case wholly forgettable weekend for the manufacturing facility.
8 Maverick Vinales
Began: sixth Dash: eleventh Completed: seventh
Given what we anticipated from Aprilia on the Purple Bull Ring, considered one of its hardest circuits, Maverick Vinales’ outcomes would have been completely center of the highway effective if it wasn’t for the performances of his team-mate Espargaro, who was in a position to up the sport significantly in each the dash and in qualifying.
Consequently, extra maybe ought to have been anticipated from Vinales than a couple of on-par outcomes on the Austrian observe.
9 Pol Espargaro
Began: tenth Dash: ninth Completed: eleventh
It’s by no means simple to be a race rusty wildcard leaping into the fray, and it’s more durable nonetheless to take action on a motorbike that hasn’t been performing significantly effectively of late.
However, regardless of that (and aided by a powerful check on the Purple Bull Ring in latest weeks) Pol Espargaro was in a position to ship a few of KTM’s strongest outcomes of its house weekend.
Clearly he’s nonetheless bought it – and the Austrian GP was an essential likelihood to point out it, too.
10 Franco Morbidelli
Began: eighth Dash: sixth Completed: eighth
There are two other ways to evaluate Franco Morbidelli’s weekend.
On one hand, he got here house with two respectable finishes, added factors to the board, and is constant to look more and more aggressive on the Pramac Ducati.
On the opposite, although, he was as soon as once more an extended, great distance from the opposite three GP24 machines that locked out Sunday’s podium – and doesn’t appear to be persistently closing the hole to them, both.
11 Alex Marquez
Began: eleventh Dash: twentieth Completed: tenth
Taking on from Johann Zarco as Ducati’s fairly invisible strong factors scorer this season, Alex Marquez did simply that on Sunday by driving a quiet however strong race.
He was unlucky to not end the primary lap within the dash because of the chaos of the brand new Purple Bull Ring Flip 2 chicane, however he was in a position to bounce again with a powerful sufficient efficiency to finish the weekend on a relative excessive.
12 Taka Nakagami
Began: twenty second Dash: sixteenth Completed: 14th
Any weekend the place Taka Nakagami can emerge victorious within the ‘Japanese Cup’ battle is an effective one proper now, on condition that it’s the Yamahas and his fellow Hondas that we needs to be measuring him in opposition to.
The Purple Bull Ring efficiency was a reminder of his talents at a time when individuals are brazenly speculating about his future.
13 Pedro Acosta
Began: 14th Dash: tenth Completed: thirteenth
Probably the worst weekend up to now for 2024’s distinctive rookie Pedro Acosta – however one which he was fairly completely happy to tackle the chin after the race, hoping {that a} poor exhibiting at KTM’s house would emphasise to his bosses that the bike isn’t the place it must be.
It’s onerous to argue that his type wasn’t an RC16 efficiency subject, given all the outcomes of late, and the shortcoming to work round it like KTM veteran Binder is a reminder that Acosta very a lot stays a rookie.
14 Miguel Oliveira
Began: thirteenth Dash: thirteenth Completed: twelfth
A reasonably uneventful weekend for the Portuguese racer at a observe the place the Aprilia wasn’t anticipated to work effectively. Miguel Oliveira barely even made it onto TV not to mention into a good ending place.
A minimum of he was in a position to keep away from his Trackhouse team-mate Raul Fernandez’s technical woes and to attain factors on Sunday regardless of a lap one punt from Marc Marquez. It doesn’t seem to be that incident considerably hampered his race given the place we noticed him slotting in over the remainder of the weekend.
15 Augusto Fernandez
Began: sixteenth Dash: DNF Completed: fifteenth
A reasonably robust weekend for the Tech3 rider, even when he was denied a end within the dash because of technical points.
However scoring factors in the principle race is a good reminder that regardless of KTM’s woes, Augusto Fernandez can nonetheless be quick – and it couldn’t have come at a greater time for him as he appears to safe a Yamaha check rider future.
16 Alex Rins
Began: twenty first Dash: DNF Completed: sixteenth
Though it may not seem to be it on the bike, Alex Rins very a lot nonetheless appears bodily damaged, on condition that he can hardly stroll throughout the paddock unassisted.
With that essential context, the truth that he’s in a position to exit and beat Yamaha team-mate Fabio Quartararo on a troublesome circuit is testomony to how one thing is lastly beginning to go proper for him on the group, even when unhealthy luck elsewhere is hiding that progress.
17 Luca Marini
Began: 18th Dash: seventeenth Completed: DNF
It’s unlucky for Luca Marini that he was considered one of a lot of Hondas to face technical issues early on in the principle race, as a result of it truly seemed like one of many uncommon events the place he had the tempo to boost his recreation slightly bit.
Comparatively quick in qualifying, an space the place he’s struggled slightly on the RC213V, after which respectable if not distinctive within the dash, points as quickly because the GP lights went out means we’ll by no means know what a full race may have delivered.
18 Raul Fernandez
Began: twentieth Dash: 14th Completed: DNF
We knew it was going to be a troublesome weekend for Aprilia, and that was mirrored in Fernandez’s ends in explicit.
Nonetheless working to study his manner across the new 2024 spec RS-GP he solely obtained at Silverstone two weeks in the past, he was at much more of an obstacle than the remainder of the Aprilia flock – and any likelihood of at the very least a comfort prize was denied by one more Trackhouse technical drawback, one thing that’s changing into manner too frequent.
19 Jack Miller
Began: fifth Dash: fifth Completed: nineteenth
One other weekend the place Jack Miller is ready to flip wonderful qualifying efficiency into a really respectable dash end result – solely to then utterly mess it up on Sunday by throwing the bike down the highway.
Hardly the primary time we’ve seen this story play out from the Australian, and hardly what KTM would have wished at its house race.
20 Johann Zarco
Began: seventeenth Dash: fifteenth Completed: twenty first
Sadly, we’ll by no means know what Zarco’s potential was in Sunday’s race, because of a technical drawback that robbed him of energy as quickly because the lights went out and, in line with the Frenchman, left him driving round hoping for rain and a flag to flag bike swap.
Nevertheless, with a good dash run, it looks like he may have been on the very least fascinated about factors had issues gone his manner.
21 Lorenzo Savadori
Began: twenty fourth Dash: 18th Completed: twentieth
An honest check rider wildcard from the Aprilia racer by which he inserted himself into the ‘Honda Cup’ battle and averted ending useless final. That’s one thing extra spectacular than it maybe sounds on paper on condition that the laboratory bike he was driving is a great distance away from being an precise race machine and on condition that, as R&D mules are likely to do, it had various mechanical points over the course of the weekend.
22 Joan Mir
Began: nineteenth Dash: nineteenth Completed: seventeenth
The silver lining of Joan Mir’s weekend is actually that he noticed two chequered flags, one thing that’s been all too uncommon in his latest performances.
Nevertheless it’s additionally fairly uncommon to see him crushed by different Hondas when he does make it to the top, and the very robust efficiency from Nakagami specifically ought to come as one thing of a efficiency purple flag for the Repsol group, even when it’s more likely to be an exception fairly than the rule.
23 Fabio Quartararo
Began: fifteenth Dash: twelfth Completed: 18th
Look, everyone knows that Yamaha is in hassle, and that the Purple Bull Ring was at all times going to exacerbate its points with rear grip.
However, the primary particular person it’s important to beat is your team-mate, and that’s one thing that Quartararo was unable to do on Sunday even regardless of Rins’ appreciable bodily drawback proper now.
Not much more was anticipated of the 2021 world champion, however we thought he would at the very least be nearer to Rins and nearer to the factors.
24 Stefan Bradl
Began: twenty third Dash: DNF Completed: twenty second
A comparatively customary subject check rider look for Stefan Bradl, even when dash technical points meant that he wasn’t in a position to see the chequered flag on Saturday.
For as soon as, although, a stronger exhibiting from the remainder of Honda’s full-time squad meant he wasn’t in a position to get within the combine with them and ended the race final bike house, behind even the Aprilia prototype of Savadori.
