Star Metro - Championship leader Marc Marquez wins sprint at Austrian MotoGP

It was his 12th sprint victory of the season, his sixth in succession, and it takes the Ducati rider 123 points ahead of his brother Alex Marquez with Sunday's Grand Prix still to come, followed by another nine race weekends in the 22-race season.

Early leader Alex (Ducati-Gresini) was second in the 14-lap race with Pedro Acosta (KTM) completing the podium.

Marc Marquez, who had never previously won at this circuit, had only been beaten once in sprints this year when his brother Alex outdid him at Silverstone and he had to bide his time to claim fraternal bragging rights once again.

With five laps remaining, Alex made a slight error exiting a chicane which opened the door for his elder brother to slide through and take the lead which he held until the end.

Marco Bezzecchi, who had been quickest in qualifying earlier in the day on his Aprilia and will start from pole in Sunday's main feature, held third until Acosta, on his team's home track, swept past him.

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), who was unbeaten at Spielberg since 2022, made a terrible start on the front row, running wide off the track on the first corner, and slipped down to 14th.

With something clearly wrong with his bike the two-time world champion drifted to the back of the field before heading into the pits and retiring.

V.Watson--SMC