The Grand Prix is ​​still hot 96 years later

Everything is already done: next weekend, the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg will once again become a place of pilgrimage for motorbike fans, when the world championship will be held in Styria and the stars will start their machines. The Austrian Grand Prix has been held since 1927, and the race has remained a big deal to this day. It’s still worth taking a look in the rear-view mirror.

The beginnings: The “Austrian Grand Prix for Motorcycles” took place for the first time in 1927 on a race track in Vösendorf in the south of Vienna. When the race came to an end after a long six hours, only 19 of the 45 drivers who had originally started were still in the race. After four editions came the first break.

The move: 1947 saw the birth of the legendary Salzburg autobahn race in Liefering, which later developed into the international “Rupert Hollaus Memorial Race” and finally in 1958 the “Austrian Grand Prix for Motorcycles”. Another person who entered the illustrious list of winners during this period was Gerold Klinger from Gaspoltshofen, who in 1957 with his BMW, despite a fall, won the competition in what was then the premier class up to 500 ccm. It was young, intrepid daredevils who drove motorcycle races in the 1950s. There were no falls.

From 1966 the line was Salzburg-Anif-Grödig. In 1970 the Salzburgring was inaugurated, in 1971 it was given World Championship status and the Grand Prix was held in front of 80,000 spectators. It was also the heyday of the legendary Italian Giacomo Agostini, whose name many motorcycle fans still click their tongues to this day. The now 81-year-old triumphed a total of seven times in Austria in different racing classes.

Up until 1994, 22 World Championship races took place in Salzburg’s Nesselgraben. The Australian Mick Doohan won the last race with an average speed of 194 km/h, which was enormous for the time. After that, the Salzburgring was classified as too dangerous for the GP classes, and financial problems also forced the end.

The short guest appearance: The next Austrian races of the World Championship took place in 1996 and 1997 on the A1 ring in Spielberg. A young Valentino Rossi made it onto the podium for the first time here at the age of 17. But what is no longer imaginable today with 250,000 fans on site plagued the red-white-red organizers back then: Due to the lack of spectators, the guest performance in Styria was canceled after only a short time.

The Modern Age: It was thanks to the Red Bull Group and its late founder Dietrich Mateschitz that the motorcycle world championship returned to Austria in 2016 after a break of almost two decades. And how! The classic became a crowd puller right from the start. With eight races so far, Ducati in particular has had a brilliant record in MotoGP. Six wins speak a clear language for the “Reds”. But KTM is more than brave against it: The other two triumphs in the modern Austrian Grand Prix went to Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira.

The program in Spielberg

• Thursday
  4:10 p.m.: Pit Lane Walk
• Friday
  8.30 a.m.: free practice different classes
  5 p.m.: Qualifying MotoE
  5.50 p.m.: Qualifying Rookies Cup.
• Saturday
  8.40 a.m. to 10.40 a.m.: free practice
  10.50 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.: Qualifying MotoGP
  12.15 p.m.: 1st race MotoE
  12.50 p.m. to 1.30 p.m.: Qualifying Moto3;
  1:45 p.m. to 2:25 p.m.: Qualifying Moto2
  3pm: Sprint MotoGP (14 laps)
  4.10pm: Race 2 MotoE
  5 p.m.: 1st race Rookies Cup.
• Sunday
  8.50 a.m.: 2nd race Rookies Cup
  10 a.m.: Riders Parade
  11am: Race Moto3 (20 laps)
  12:15 p.m.: Race Moto2 (23 laps)
  1 p.m.: Race MotoEX2
  1:15 p.m. to 1:53 p.m. pre-program
  2 p.m.: MotoGP race (28 laps).