Vietti charge denies Acosta victory in Austria

The CryptoDATA Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich delivered blockbuster action as Celestino Vietti (Fantic Racing) picked off rider by rider in a superb charge through the field. The Italian wasn't settling for anything other than the top step as he denied Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and KTM the victory in Austria. The Spaniard put in a clever ride, however, to strengthen his Championship position as Ai Ogura (IDEMISTU Honda Team Asia) continued his podium form in P3.  

It was Pedro Acosta who took the holeshot down into turn 1 as Jake Dixon (Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team) shot up into P2 with Ai Ogura keeping himself in the mix.  

Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) and Darryn Binder (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) crashed out early on as they fell victim to the Turn 2a-2b chicane.  

At the front, Acosta got into his groove and began to pull away from the rest of the field. Meanwhile, Dixon was coming under pressure from Ai Ogura who eventually got the better of the Brit to put himself into P2.  

Dixon then fell into the clutches of Celestino Vietti who was on an absolute charge. The Italian pushed his way past the GASGAS man and then had Ogura locked in his sights.  

Acosta led the way by a second and a half but Vietti was the man on the move as he pounced on Ogura with eleven laps to go.  

The Japanese rider had no response for the Italian as he proceeded to put down a scintillating pace and started to reel in the race leader.  

With six laps remaining Vietti was all over the rear wheel of Acosta and wasted no time at all in pushing his way past the Championship leader.  

Acosta tried all he could to cling onto Vietti but had no answer for Italian who put in an inch-perfect performance to take the victory by 1.435s. 

Acosta took a crucial 20 points towards his title tilt with Ai Ogura taking another podium in a return to form for the #79.  

Jake Dixon missed out on the podium one second back from the Japanese rider, with Somkiat Chantra (IDEMISTU Honda Team Asia) rounding out the top five.  

Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) made a good start but lost ground and lost crucial points as the race went on. The Italian was 14.054s adrift of the victory in 6th place.  

It was damage limitation for the MarcVDS rider as he put crucial points on the board. The same couldn't be said for some of the other Moto2™ big hitters who hit the deck and left the Red Bull Ring with zero points. 

Aron Canet (Pons wegow Los40) was one of the crashers as well as Alonso Lopez (CAG SpeedUp) and Manuel Gonzalez (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Team).  

The attention now turns to the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya in Spain where Acosta will be looking to further extend his Championship lead. You can keep up to date with all the Moto2™ action at the CryptoDATA Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich on motogp.com! 

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