Pramac Racing's Jorge Martin fended off Suzuki's reigning world champion Joan Mir to seal his first MotoGP win on Sunday at the Styrian Grand Prix that was stopped and re-started after a fireball incident.
Pole-sitter Martin faced immense pressure from Mir but finished 1.548 seconds ahead of the Suzuki rider to hand Pramac their maiden MotoGP win in his rookie season.
Yamaha's world championship leader Fabio Quartararo completed the podium, extending his lead to 40 points over nearest rival Johann Zarco of Pramac, who finished sixth.
"I cannot believe it," said race winner Martin. "What I did today was amazing. I kept a constant pace during the race and was super focused. Even if I did some mistakes, my target was to win.
"Joan was impressive today. He was behind me almost all the race, but the last laps I tried harder even when the front tyre was destroyed.
"Today is one big step for my big dream of being a world champion."
The race was red-flagged on the third lap after KTM's Dani Pedrosa fell on the exit of Turn 3 and Aprilia Racing's Lorenzo Savadori struck Pedrosa's fallen bike.
The crash caused a fire on track and the race was halted for more than half an hour. Pedrosa walked away unhurt from the incident and finished 10th in his first MotoGP race since 2018, while Savadori did not return for the restart.
KTM's Brad Binder made a stunning charge from 16th on the grid to finish fourth, while Honda's six-times premier-class winner Marc Marquez came eighth.
Italian great Valentino Rossi, who announced on Thursday he will retire at the end of the season, was 13th on his Petronas Yamaha.
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Christian Radnedge)
