MotoGP Austria: Bagnaia soars after Rossi and Stoner support

Ducati Lenovo’s Pecco Bagnaia was on a high at the Red Bull Ring after claiming the top step of the rostrum for the third time in a row on Sunday.

Having put his three mid-season DNF’s firmly in the past with successive successes in recent races, Bagnaia became the first Bologna factory rider to hit three consecutive wins since Casey Stoner in 2008 after holding off a rapidly paced Fabio Quartararo in the Austrian GP.

Launching from the front row alongside teammate Jack Miller - who also joined him on the Spielberg podium - and poleman Gresini’s Enea Bastianini, the 25-year-old was in control from the off after grabbing the holeshot from his countryman and never looked back.

“I tried to do the best start possible,” Bagnaia said after celebrating the victory. “But I also did a mistake with the gear because I entered to the first corner with the third gear and that was a bit long but anyway, I’m very happy about today because it was one of the hardest of the year.

“I wasn’t competitive till yesterday in the FP4 because I was struggling to be fast and finally, I think we did an enormous job yesterday.

“I did the safer choice for the front tyre but in this condition today finally wasn’t the best choice,” he continued. “I was expecting some drop of the rain or a drop of the temperature but then was everything okay, so maybe the hard was a bit better because I had a lot of problems with the front locking. But anyway, I’m very happy. We did another really good job this weekend. My team did an incredible job this weekend. So I’m very happy about everything.”

While Miller was in hot pursuit for the majority of the 28-lap race, it was the Yamaha champion who would challenge in the closing stages.

“When I see Jack over to me I said,