In a dramatic race, Miguel Oliveira of Red Bull KTM Tech3 won from Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) and Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) at the final corner, on the final lap to win his and his team's first MotoGP race. Oliveira is also the first Portuguese rider to win a Grand Prix race in the premier class. Oliveira's victory meant that ending the winning streaks for Ducati on Red Bull Ring - which is Ducati has won there 5 times.
For the first time since the 2016 Dutch TT, all classes were won by a first time winner in that class.
The opening rounds of the 2020 championship were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed after the aborted opening round in Qatar, prompting the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme to draft a new calendar. However, the Austrian Grand Prix was not impacted by this change and kept its original date.
Organisers of the race signed a contract with Dorna Sports, the sport's commercial rights holder, to host a second round at the circuit on 23 August (a week after the first race) to be known as the "Styrian Grand Prix". The race was named for Styria, the state of Austria that the Red Bull Ring is located in. The race was also the second time in the sport's history that the same venue and circuit layout hosted back-to-back World Championship races.
Stefan Bradl replaced Marc Márquez from the Czech Republic round onwards while he recovered from injuries sustained in his opening round crash.[3][4]
Ducati test rider Michele Pirro replaced Francesco Bagnaia in Austria while he recovered from injuries sustained in a crash during practice at the Czech round.
Free practice
The first practice session ended with Jack Miller fastest for Pramac Racing ahead of Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso and Tech3's Miguel Oliveira. The second practice session ended with Pol Espargaró fastest, followed by Nakagami and Joan Mir.
Combined Free Practice 1-2-3
The top ten drivers (written in bold) qualified in Q2.
The race was run in dry conditions despite the clouds looming. On the opening lap, Joan Mir got a fantastic launch from P3 to the lead the race from polesitter Pol Espargaro, with Miller also getting a great start from fourth on the grid. The Australian got past Espargaro by going up the inside at Turn 2. After running wide and gaining an advantage at Turn 1 on the opening lap Mir was forced to drop a position, thus Miller inherited the race lead. Championship leader Fabio Quartararo made a poor start, and dropped to P14 after running wide at Turn 1. Andrea Dovizioso made a solid start and was up to sixth on Lap 2. Takaaki Nakagami got past Pol Espargaro and the top three slowly pulling clear of the chasing pack.
Lap 5 saw Mir lead the race with Miller and Nakagami half a second clear of Pol Espargaro and Alex Rins and that gap kept climbing as the race went ahead. On Lap 8 the leading trio were 1.4 clear, with the Yamahas dropping down the field. With 14 laps to go, Viñales slowed down and held his hand up to suggest something was wrong with his YZR-M1. Viñales continued but the Spaniard jumped off his Yamaha at Turn 1 in what looked like a brake failure. His machine smashed into the air-fence at Turn 1 and going up in flames. Viñales was able to walk away and brought the red flags out as the race came to a halt, with a 12-laps to go.
Restart
The race began for a second time and Mir lead from pole, with Miller falling down from third. Pol Espargaro powered away from the line well but ran slightly wide into Turn 1, allowing Miller to regain position into Turn 2. Miller was leading Mir fought back on the exit but the Ducati rider held the inside line for Turn 6, with Nakagami dropping to seventh. With eight laps to go, Pol Espargaro set the fastest lap of the race. The KTM rider then made his move on Mir at Turn 3. Pol then attempted a pass up into Turn 1 but was wide, allowing Miller to pass and Oliveira and Mir to close in. Mir was then wide at Turn 4, allowing Dovizioso to grab fourth as Miller and Oliveira . The top five were close, however Mir and Dovizioso were about to drop off the pace slightly with Doviziosio running wide again at Turn 9.
Heading onto the last lap, this was between two KTMs and a Ducati. Pol led onto the last lap and got a good run out of the first corner but braked too much defensively. This compromised his exit and Miller made the move stick into the downhill right-hander. Miller held firm through the left-handers but Pol got the run up the hill and swerved to the inside and got underneath Miller. Miller braked late and dived underneath Pol. The duo went wide though and Oliveira, on his normal line, Oliveira got past Miller and Pol to seal a historic victory. Miller held onto second to pick up his second podium of the season, with Pol claiming P3.
Classification
MotoGP
The race, scheduled to be run for 28 laps, was red-flagged after 16 full laps due to an accident involving Maverick Viñales. The race was later restarted over 12 laps with the starting grid determined by the classification of the first part.
^Not classified due to finishing the race through pits.
^Yamaha scored 88 points as a manufacturer, but were deducted 50 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols.[11]
^Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders scored 93 points, but the team was deducted 20 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols.[11]
