Pedro Acosta produced a redemption ride as he claimed his maiden MotoGP victory at KTM’s home race at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Acosta overcame the disappointment from crashing out of the lead in the sprint race as he moved from third on the grid to his first premier class victory.
Jorge Martin made the best start from pole position and held the lead down into first corner ahead of Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi, who got the launch to take second from Marc Marquez.
Ai Ogura also made a fast start from the second row of the grid and had the pace to challenge Marquez into the chicane, ultimately coming out to make it an Aprilia 1-2-3 on the opening lap, before Acosta also passed Marquez to take fourth.
Bezzecchi had the pace throughout the first lap and looked to pull a move on his team-mate at Turn 6, but was forced to wait until the run down to the first corner on Lap 2 to make the move for the lead.
Martin responded and retook the lead, as Acosta pulled a strong move at Turn 6 on Ogura to move into third and set the fastest laps in succession to close back in on the Aprilia pair ahead.
Acosta kept gaining ground on the Aprilias and on Lap 4, in the chicane where he crashed from the lead in the sprint, Acosta overtook Bezzecchi to take second and set his sights on Martin in the lead.
It took Acosta a bit longer to close the gap to Martin, but eventually the KTM rider managed to get on terms with the championship leader and tried to find a way through. On Lap 9, Acosta struck once more at the chicane and took the lead of the race.
Behind the top three, Marquez responded to his struggles and re-passed Ogura for fourth. However, one lap later, the nine-time champion ran well wide at the first corner and dropped down to seventh.
Marquez then set his sights on Brad Binder, who made his way up to sixth, and passed the KTM rider for sixth, before getting back on terms with Fermin Aldeguer to return to the top five.
Although it got close at the end of the race, Acosta saw off all the challenges as he clinched his first-ever MotoGP victory in his final race with KTM at its home circuit.
Martin came home second after fending off a late challenge from Bezzecchi, who completed the podium in third.
Ogura had late race pace to take fourth, as Marquez was disappointed despite rounding out the top five. Binder took sixth at the chequered flag, while Francesco Bagnaia was seventh and Aldeguer was awarded a three second penalty for causing contact which demoted him to eighth.
Fabio Di Giannantonio took ninth and Johann Zarco completed the top 10, with Enea Bastianini unable to replicate his usual late race pace in 11th. Meanwhile Raul Fernandez edged ahead of Takaaki Nakagami for 12th.
Luca Marini was 14th and Diogo Moreira rounded out the points finishers in 15th. Pol Espargaro narrowly missed out in 16th, but had a big gap to Fabio Quartararo in 17th.
Franco Morbidelli finished 18th ahead of Alex Rins, while the Pramac Yamaha duo of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jack Miller completed the finishers in 20th and 21st.
Alex Marquez crashed on Lap 13 and was the only non-classified rider of the Austrian Grand Prix.
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