Oliveira leaves it late to snatch win at Styrian MotoGP
KTM Tech3's Miguel Oliveira became the first Portuguese rider to claim a MotoGP victory in the Styrian Grand Prix on Sunday in a race that was restarted after a horror crash involving Championship contender Maverick Vinales produced a red flag.
Oliveira edged Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller and pole-sitter Pol Espargaro of KTM in a three-way battle on the final lap, sealing a first-ever premier class victory for the KTM Tech3 team.
Earlier, Vinales was approaching turn one at around 225km/h when he was forced to jump off his Yamaha due to a brake failure with the bike crashing into the air wall and bursting into flames.
SA's Brad Binder finished eighth after qualifying 13th, and is fourth in the championship.
“It was a good race. The first one was going really well and I was slowly catching up ground," said Binder.
"To get up to sixth was already great. I felt really, really good. Unfortunately with the red flag and the restart I didn’t make the best decision with the tyres and really struggled to stop, even running off at Turn 1 but I was able to come back to eighth".
MotoGP Championship top 10 standings after five races
1. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) – 70
2. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) – 67
3. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) – 56
4. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) – 49
5. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) – 48
6. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) – 46
7. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) – 45
8. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) – 44
9. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) – 43
10. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) – 35