David Almansa suffered a heartbreaking exit from the Moto3 Austrian Grand Prix, crashing out of the lead at Turn 2. The Intact GP rider's mistake dropped him to third in the championship standings, while Maximo Quiles surged to his ninth victory of the season and extended his title lead.
The incident mirrored Almansa's nightmare in Goiania, where he also dominated practice only to throw away a potential victory on Sunday. Starting cleanly, he passed polesitter Brian Uriarte into Turn 1, briefly lost the position, but quickly reclaimed P1 before his crash.
Behind him, a fierce battle between KTM teammates Alvaro Carpe and Uriarte allowed Quiles to capitalise, moving into P3 and then P2. Just after setting a new lap record, Almansa crashed, handing Quiles an easy win and a 306-point championship lead. Carpe now sits second on 175 points, one ahead of Almansa.
Quiles' ninth win of 2026 means he could secure the Moto3 World Championship as early as the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix. He is also just five wins away from equalling David Alonso's record of 14 victories in a single season.
Behind Quiles, Uriarte and Carpe completed the podium, delivering a standout double finish for KTM on home soil. Eddie O’Shea and Guido Pini rounded out the top five. The double podium at the Red Bull Ring secured enough points for KTM to officially lock up the Moto3 Constructors’ Championship title.
Casey O’Gorman finished sixth, heading Adrian Cruces and Marco Morelli. Hakim Danish and Ryusei Yamanaka completed the top ten, while Joel Kelso took 11th ahead of Valentin Perrone and Veda Pratama. Matteo Bertelle stalled from fifth on the grid and recovered to 14th.
The race saw several retirements: Rico Salmela crashed at Turn 6 after climbing to fourth, Joel Esteban went down but remounted to salvage 15th, David Munoz crashed at Turn 4, and Adrian Fernandez suffered a late tumble with three laps to go.
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