Unexpected podium
Marco Bezzecchi finished in third place in the Sprint race at the Red Bull Ring, Austria. The Rimini rider for Aprilia lost a few points to both of his direct rivals for the World Championship – Jorge Martin first and Marc Marquez second – but still managed to close on the podium in this short race. Credit also goes to the sporting suicide of Pedro Acosta who crashed three laps from the checkered flag after dominating the race until that moment.
Read more Marquez aims for P3: “Acosta and Martin stronger. Tomorrow watch out for Bezzecchi and Ogura”
“I think I brought home a bit more than I expected, because objectively I had a pace to finish fourth. A bit because for once we got a bit lucky – Bezzecchi joked in the traditional post-race interview with Sky Sport MotoGP, obviously referring to Acosta’s mistake – and a bit because we really gave our best. But it was nice because in the end I had less but I let myself be dragged and I managed to improve a lot, to always stay quite close to Marc [Marquez] and at some points even get slightly back under him and this definitely helped me for tomorrow. Then in the end with Pedro’s crash I was also a bit lucky, but once in a while it goes well for me too”.
Read more GP Austria 2026, the Sprint report
An area to improve
“I was quite strong in turn 1 and then from turn 5 onwards I was quite fast – Bezzecchi explained further, analyzing his race performance compared to Martin and Marquez – but in the chicane I always lose a lot compared to them. I tried to change the way I take it, more or less for the whole Sprint, but I still haven’t found the right line, even with the brake, especially in the first part where you have to go over the curb. There I definitely still need to improve. But in T3 and T4 I made a good step compared to yesterday and also compared to this morning, so I’m happy. That is a bit of a tricky chicane – Bez added – because it’s narrow, but at the same time you have to enter fast. But you can’t go too far to the right, because otherwise in the left-hand direction change you don’t come out anymore. So at that point definitely being able to brake better and make a good direction change would be ideal“.
