After a hard fight with Sergio Garcia until shortly before the finish line in the end alone on the ground – the five-time winner of Moto3, Pedro Acosta from Murcia in Spain. The boy turned seventeen on May 25, 2021 and dominates the junior class as a rookie almost at will.

Pedro Acosta gives KTM the only home win

It was only 17 degrees Celsius when the Moto3 race started at eleven o’clock on Sunday morning as a rain race on still damp asphalt. For Pedro Acosta and the other rookies in the field, it was only the second wet Grand Prix of their career. Since it was no longer raining, there was a dry racing line early on. However, this did not make the task any easier for most of the people because it made things really tight during overtaking manoeuvres. Sergio Garcia, who had fought for the lead with Acosta for a long time, felt this painfully on the last lap. The Spaniard was in the lead and only had two turns left when his young compatriot pushed himself up next to him on Turn 9. On the slightly wetter surface, his tire lost grip and Garcia flew off over the front wheel, was then able to get on again immediately and cross the chequered flag as second.

The track sketch by Spielberg with actually only 9 corners, because even in MotoGP the so-called Turn 2 is driven at full throttle. The hairpin 3 is particularly critical, for which the term curve is rather too flattering. This was the second time since 2020 that a hair-raising situation arose in MotoGP in the afternoon.

The many incidents of the race and the KTM triple victory

A total of 8 track limit warnings and thus exactly half as many as later in the Moto2 race were issued and Lorenzo Fellon was punished with a long lap penalty. In the race that followed, there were two of them a little later. Deniz Öncü started from the pit lane, and Carlos Tatay decided not to take part in the Styrian GP. With Andi Farid Izdihar and David Salvador, there were two other crash victims besides Garcia, which was surprisingly few in the difficult conditions. The Indonesian even fell twice within ten minutes and then retired like the Spaniard in the end. Although supposedly three different brands crossed the finish line in the first three places, it was exactly the same motorcycle, namely a KTM. The Austrians are also familiar with fraudulent labels in Moto2, where they appear under their own name with the Ajo Team, but the chassis comes from Kalex, and the engine, like all of them, from Triumph. However, the peak of the embarrassment for KTM was that Deniz Öncü’s team was still busy changing tires at the 3-minute table. It was precisely at the home race of the Oranges that Tech 3 KTM made such a rookie mistake and the pole sitter therefore had to start from the pit lane, which meant that he no longer had a chance of a top position.

Andi Farid Izdihar (Honda Team Asia) on the ground – twice in the same race, there was one crash too many for the Indonesian in the end.

The Moto3 Grand Prix of Styria in numbers

Interim balance of the Moto3 World Championship

Unless a small miracle happens, the title fight will be decided between the two KTM riders, Acosta and Garcia. The latter rides a bike that comes to the start as GasGas, which is only used for marketing purposes, since the brand was bought up by the oranges. The Italians Fenati and Foggia, like Masia, only have outsider chances for the title. With a lead of over 50 points over his pursuers, a 17-year-old rookie is currently the big favourite, which is unlikely to change at least until Silverstone.

John McPhee from Petronas SRT Honda Team was one of the main favourites for the title before the start of the season, but the young man from Scotland had a terrible start to the year and is far behind in 14th place.

The status of all classes in the World Championship at a glance

The schedule for the Austrian GP

The combined calendar for MotoGP and WorldSBK

In red letters are the collisions in which, especially in the first three cases, the simultaneous implementation of the MotoGP with the WSBK causes enormous damage to the latter. Hardly any broadcaster is likely to broadcast the WSSP and Superbike World Championship races live. Especially the Malaysian GP in Sepang, WorldSBK Mandalika (Indonesia) and San Juan (Argentina) are still questionable. In this respect, a few more changes in the permanently provisional and chaotic calendar of FIM & Dorna can be expected.

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