Albert Arenas crash ruins Austrian race

Joan Mir continued his domination of the Moto3 World Championship 2017 and of the Grand Prix of Austria, where he scored his first victory last year and repeated it again today. The Spaniard crossed the line with a three-second advantage over second place, to extend his series lead to 64 points. Mir has now already equalled the record of seven wins in a season set by last year’s champion Brad Binder and he was joined on the podium in Austria by Phillip Öttl and Jorge Martín, who took third despite still struggling with injury.

Two crashes, one at the start of the race and one at the end, made it a Grand Prix to forget for the Mahindra Gaviota Aspar Team. Albert Arenas stayed in the battle for the top fifteen until the final lap, when he made contact with another rider and crashed with just a few corners to go.

Albert Arenas (crash):

“On the last lap I tried to pass another rider in the tight section, we touched and I crashed, and then as a consequence he crashed too. I don’t want to fall, or knock anybody else off, so I want to apologise to him. I gave my maximum on every lap, I pushed to the limit and I did everything I could. We knew there would be a big group at the start today and I tried to be as far forward as possible when it broke. In the end it was impossible to keep pace with the guys at the front so now we just have to look ahead to the next race.”