Styrian MotoGP Race Results: Miguel Oliveira claims shock win for KTM

Miguel Oliveira handed KTM its second MotoGP victory in three rounds, as well as maiden successes for both himself and the stalwart Tech 3 Racing team, with a brilliant last gasp victory snatched in the final metres of the Styrian MotoGP.

The Portuguese rider was one of the riders to benefit from the second mid-race red flag interruption in as many weekends, getting into the thick of the leading fight in a 12-lap sprint to the flag around the Red Bull Ring.

Even so, Oliveira looked to be heading for what would have been a landmark first podium in third as he maintained a watching brief behind leaders Pol Espargaro and Jack Miller heading into the final lap.

Espargaro led into the last revolution, but an over-zealous defensive line into Turn 3 merely allowed Miller the run he needed to nose the Ducati ahead into Turn 4. The Spaniard hit right back into Turn 9, only for Miller to return the favour with a cutback moments later into the final corner.

Unfortunately for them, the chopping and changing had just allowed Oliveira onto their tail and his momentum didn’t miss a beat when Miller and Espargaro proceeded to run out to the run-off after going to deep in their defence of one another.

A remarkable result for the Portuguese rider – whose best finish coming into the weekend was a sixth place – it is a second success for KTM just two weeks after Brad Binder’s historic win in Brno. Perhaps more poignantly, this is also a very long awaited first win for Tech 3 Racing, which finally makes the top step after 356 trips to the rostrum over the last 21 years

Miller recovered to grab second for back-to-back podiums in Austria, with Espargaro having to settle for third and see another KTM stablemate grab a victory before he does.

Joan Mir finished a disgruntled fourth, the Spaniard looking on course for victory on the Suzuki as he multipled his lead over the first half of the race, only to be left out of the top contention when the stoppage left him with no more fresh tyres to use.

Austrian MotoGP winner Andrea Dovizioso could only manage fifth on this occasion, but with Fabio Quartararo only 14th on a broadly torrid day for Yamaha, the margin to the Frenchman is now only three points.

Alex Rins completed the top six for Suzuki, ahead of top Honda rider again Takaaki Nakagami and Binder in eighth. Valentino Rossi was the best-placed Yamaha rider on an otherwise shocking day for the manufacturer, while Iker Lecuona contributed to another KTM landmark achieved today, that being all four KTMs finishing inside the top ten.

While Rossi and Quartararo finished down the order, they at least fared better than Maverick Vinales after he was forced to throw himself off his Yamaha when its brakes ‘exploded’ at 230km/h. Unhurt from the quick-thinking jump, Vinales will have been pleased he did the moment he saw the M1 slam into the air fence and catch fire.

2020 Styrian MotoGP – RACE RESULTS