A modest attendance of 46,298 showed up at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday to watch Round 15 of the 2026 MotoGP™ World Championship, with the main event held over 28 laps.

Bastianini’s Sunday didn’t quite go to plan. Aiming for a place inside the top eight, the Italian immediately gained ground in the early exchanges, moving from 17th on the grid to sit twelfth at the close of lap one. 

Locked in a fight for ninth with Fabio Di Giannantonio, Johann Zarco, Fabio Quartararo and Raul Fernandez, ‘La Bestia’ didn’t have the confidence with the front end to make his usual Sunday fightback. In the end, he came home eleventh, less than two tenths off the final spot in the top ten.

Espargaró’s race was conditioned by an early moment at Turn 4. The Spaniard had gained a place to sit 13th on lap one, but a move to avoid Fernandez under braking on the third lap pushed him wide. Contact with another rider exiting the corner lost him further time. From there, the 35-year-old rose up from 18th to cross the line in 16th, just 0.2s off the points. 

Red Bull KTM Tech3 now has a well-deserved weekend off before the Japanese Grand Prix (2-4 October), which marks the beginning of the flyaway tour.

Enea Bastianini: “It was more or less like yesterday. I’m a bit surprised because this morning my feeling was better than the race. Looking at the data, we were comfortable with the soft front tyre but with the medium we suffered. It’s the first time we’ve really worked well with the soft, because usually it doesn’t work so well with our bike. But here, it was good for us. Unfortunately, it was impossible to use it in the race because once you are in the slipstream, it starts to move and becomes very critical. I was expecting a little more from the race, but it didn’t happen for us this time. But it happened for Pedro, who did an incredible race. I wish to say congratulations to him.”

Pol Espargaró: “The start was actually good, but then I started fighting with the guys. Going into Turn 4, Raul (Fernandez) moved across under braking and I got caught in the slipstream, which pushed me almost onto the gravel. Then I was hit and the side of my aero was damaged, so I lost a lot of time. I lost around six seconds overall. My pace was actually very good and I had the rhythm to fight around P10 or P11, but I was already six seconds behind. I managed to overtake the Yamahas and catch the Hondas, but it was too late. I’m annoyed because I think we had the pace for a really good race, but everything changed in the blink of an eye. Pedro’s victory was very deserved. I think he could have won much earlier, but he built up his speed and finally got the result.”

Nicolas Goyon, Team Manager: “It was a difficult end to the weekend for both riders here in Austria. Enea finished 11th in the Sprint yesterday, and we know the main race is usually a little quicker, so we were hoping for a strong top-ten finish. Unfortunately, we ended up 11th again. On the other side of the garage, Pol finished 16th and just missed out on scoring points. He actually had a good race and was up in 13th early on, but battles with the other riders dropped him back. It leaves a bitter taste in our mouths, but Pol still had a strong weekend overall. I’d also like to congratulate KTM on a great job and Pedro Acosta on this fantastic victory. There was certainly potential for more from us this weekend, so we can only keep our heads down, continue working and try to improve for the next race in Japan in two weeks.”