Defending MotoGP champion Pecco Bagnaia took victory in the Austrian Grand Prix sprint, as a penalty to title rival Jorge Martin ended their duel for victory.
But a Marc Marquez crash at least restored Martin to second place, meaning he and Bagnaia are now level on points at the head of the standings.
Having lost out to Martin in the pole fight, Bagnaia got the position off the line, yet Martin stuck with him through Turn 1 and the Turn 2 chicane before reclaiming the lead into Turn 3.
Bagnaia then lunged at him at the penultimate corner but couldn't keep his line tight enough to keep Martin behind.
Yet he kept the pressure up through the next couple of turns, and by attacking Martin on the outside of Turn 2 forced the Pramac man to misjudge his braking and cut the chicane.
In doing so, Martin dropped behind Bagnaia - but also failed to give up the required one second of race time.
⚠️ @88jorgemartin is under investigation
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 17, 2024
This is what the FIM #MotoGP Stewards will be looking at 🔎#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/B4pAYYZkJO
It meant that, just as he was shadowing Bagnaia with a view of mounting another attack for the lead, Martin was assessed a long-lap penalty - serving which put paid to his chances of winning.
🚨 @88jorgemartin goes through the Long Lap Penalty loop @marcmarquez93 inherits P2 with 7 laps to go 🆙#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/pmQYZK12gN
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 17, 2024
It should've made finishing second impossible, too, but Marquez - who had established himself as a clear third behind the two leading 2024-spec Ducatis - fell off at Turn 3 while chasing after Bagnaia, before wheeling his damaged Ducati GP23 back into the pits.
😱 💥 @marcmarquez93 HAS GONE DOWN!
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 17, 2024
The Spaniard has dropped from 2nd to the back of the field 📉#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/vmWa9slwgp
It meant Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro picked up a second successive sprint podium in third.
Outside title hopeful Enea Bastianini was up to fourth at the start but overshot the entry into the Turn 2 chicane, dropping down the order.
He quickly recovered into seventh, before divebombing his way past Pramac Ducati's Franco Morbidelli at Turn 1 and then picking off KTM's Jack Miller shortly afterwards at the penultimate corner.
It allowed him to salvage a fourth place after all, while Miller fought off Morbidelli to hang on to fifth.
Miller's KTM team-mate Brad Binder made his way forward into the race to claim seventh, with Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) and Pol Espargaro (KTM) accounting for the final points-paying positions.
The only other rider to crash besides Marquez was his younger brother Alex, who closed up too fast on Morbidelli coming into Turn 2 on the opening lap and tucked the front - with his bike luckily coming to a halt on the inside of the chicane before it could return to the racing line.
He did continue the race though, finishing in 20th, while three riders retired without crashing - Augusto Fernandez (Tech3 Gas Gas), Alex Rins (Yamaha) and Stefan Bradl (Honda).
