Marc Marquez ended his long wait for a win at the Red Bull Ring in spectacular fashion on Sunday, taking the Austrian Grand Prix to mark the 1,000th premier-class race in history with a victory that moves him to the brink of a seventh world title.
The Ducati Lenovo rider swept past pole-sitter Marco Bezzecchi on lap 20 and pulled clear to secure his sixth successive Grand Prix win — his ninth of the season — before a late charge from Fermin Aldeguer reduced the margin without ever threatening the result.
Victory in the 1,000th MotoGP race completed a perfect weekend for the 32-year-old Spaniard, who had already won Saturday's sprint from the second row and now sits 142 points clear of his brother Alex at the top of the standings after 13 of 22 rounds. Not since 2014 had Marquez strung together six straight wins.
"Super, super happy to finally take the first victory here in Austria," Marquez said. "I'm wearing the red bike and it was working super good. I'm happy with six victories in a row, but I need to keep focus — next week we have another race."
Bezzecchi, who had claimed his first pole with Aprilia on Saturday, launched perfectly to lead Francesco Bagnaia and Marquez into turn one. The two factory Ducatis traded places in the opening laps before Marquez settled in behind the Aprilia and waited. Bagnaia, unbeaten at the Red Bull Ring since 2022, faded with a struggling bike and slipped to eighth.
Marquez made his decisive move with eight laps remaining, sweeping past Bezzecchi on lap 20 and then resisting the late surge of Gresini rookie Aldeguer, whose second place was the best result of his fledgling career. Bezzecchi completed the podium ahead of KTM's Pedro Acosta in fourth.
Alex Marquez, starting second, was never an outsider for the win after serving a long-lap penalty for his role in a crash at the Czech Grand Prix. He took it early, dropped as far as 11th and recovered only to 10th.
With nine rounds of the season still to run, Marquez needs little more than consistency to seal his first crown since 2019.
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