In the World Championship standings, sprint winner Bagnaia, who secured Ducati’s ninth GP victory at the Red Bull Ring, extended his lead to five points. For the eighth consecutive time, three Ducati riders stood on the podium, which had never happened before. KTM’s future hope Pedro Acosta had to settle for 13th place after a botched qualifying session. Jack Miller, who must give up his seat in the KTM factory team to Acosta in 2025, crashed while in sixth position, losing a top result at the home race of the Mattighofen team. Pol Espargaro, equipped with a KTM wildcard, could be satisfied with an eleventh place finish.
In front of motorcycle icon Valentino Rossi, KTM CEO Stefan Pierer, and Jos Verstappen, the start phase proceeded without any crashes. Martin defended his lead for one lap, then Bagnaia overtook the Spaniard at the end of the start-finish straight. Binder had a dream start, improving from twelfth on the grid to seventh position within just a few corners. It was a completely different story for Marc Marquez, who lost ten places after a touch with Franco Morbidelli and had to work his way up from 13th position. The often limit-pushing eight-time motorcycle world champion did just that; after 17 of the 28 laps, Marquez was back in fourth place.
While the leading duo raced with a comfortable margin over the rest of the competition, a dark rain cloud on the Murtal horizon added extra tension. The evening before, a thunderstorm cell had caused torrential rain around the Red Bull Ring, but this was absent on Sunday. Bagnaia consistently kept Martin behind him with a little over a second lead and decisively secured his seventh victory of the season in Styria.