Jorge Martin eased to a maiden Moto2 win in a shortened Austrian grand prix due to a red flag following a violent crash involving championship leader Enea Bastianini.
The Ajo racer led the early stages of the original encounter after taking the lead from pole-man Remy Gardner, and was beginning to gap second-placed Marcel Schrotter.
The race was then red flagged on lap four due to a fearsome incident involving Aspar rider Hafizh Syahrin.
Enea Bastianini lost the rear and high-sided on the exit of Turn 1, leaving his Italtrans machine stranded in the middle of the circuit.
Unsighted behind several other riders, Syahrin slammed at high-speed directly into the Kalex and was ejected over the front of his own bike.
The Malaysian was thankfully conscious following the incident and taken away to hospital, while Edgar Pons and Andi Farid Izdihar were both able to walk away under their own power after also being involved in the crash.
The race distance was then reduced to 13 laps following the culmination of the track cleanup efforts, Martin leading the field in the restart ahead of Schrotter and VR46 man Luca Marini.
Martin once again made a strong start to lead into Turn 1, though this time ahead of Marini who had managed to slide past Schrotter into the first bend.
Marini was able to stick in the wheel-tracks for the majority of the contest, the Italian remaining around eight-tenths back before Martin really got into his stride in the closing stages.
The Spaniard began to edge away from the pursuing VR46 machine, ultimately building up a 2.2 second advantage by the time he took the chequered flag, Marini forced to settle for second-albeit now in the championship lead ahead of next weekend’s Styrian GP event.
Schrotter bagged his and Dynavolt Racing’s first podium of 2020 meanwhile, the German enjoying a quiet race as the battling Sam Lowes and Xavi Vierge behind held each other up.
The pair ran side-by-side across a good chunk of the final tour, Lowes on his Marc VDS machine eventually getting the better of Vierge and securing his fourth-fourth placed result of the season ahead of the Petronas SRT man.
Marco Bezzecchi recovered from a pair of mistakes at the start of the rescheduled event-the second of the VR46 pilots running off the track at Turn 3-to take sixth having been as low as 12th at one point, Thomas Luthi following behind in what was a much stronger showing from the Dynavolt squad after their disastrous Brno outing last weekend.
Augusto Fernandez came home eighth on the second Marc VDS bike, while Aron Canet and Joe Roberts completed the top ten.
Gardner looked to have the pace to bag a second career Moto2 podium as he kept Schrotter at bay towards the beginning of the restart, but all was lost when the Aussie tucked the front of his SAG Racing steed at Turn 1-sliding into the gravel and out of the race.
Also retiring early on was Speed Up’s Jorge Navarro, who also lost the front but at the final turn-throwing away ninth on the opening lap of the restart.
Bastianini’s non-score means Marini holds a five-point lead over the Italtrans pilot heading to next weekend’s Styrian GP, also at the Red Bull Ring, while Martin’s success means he moves into third overall- level with Lowes and 19 in-arrears of Marini.
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