Martin buoyed with career-best Moto3 result in Spielberg

The Spanish rider having started 13th made up seven places, even overtaking teammate Francesco Bagnaia on his way to a top 10 result.

“Finally we’ve had a good race, we’ve always been there in the points but something was always a little wrong," said Martin, referring to the five DNF's in nine starts this season.

"Today we had the pace for the whole race. It was an almost perfect weekend; I worked alone since the start of the Grand Prix, making my own pace.

"In the race I saw that when I was running alone it was better. It’s a shame the front group escaped me, but I’m happy.

"The fall of [Jorge] Navarro upset me a little because I lost him as a reference, but it didn’t slow me down too much.

"I was able to overtake well in the final laps and I finished within four seconds of the leader, which is very important," the 18-year-old added.

With the top five far ahead, Martin was in a tussle with Navarro, Bo Bendsneyder, Fabio DiGiannantonio and Nicolo Bulega towards the end - with Navarro retiring, the Spanish rider was able to keep others behind over the line.

Meanwhile, teammate Bagnaia struggled with mechanical issues, was limited in his run to end 11th, after he was passed by Livio Loi in the end.

"This morning there was a mechanical problem and some chatter with the bike, which we were unable to solve in time for the race," the Italian said.

"It was impossible to do more than we did today, and on top of that Loi got in my way on the final lap. I could perhaps have been sixth or seventh without that.

"At least we took some points from the race. I couldn’t overtake anyone -it was very tough," the VR46 academy rider added.

Binder missed on points

Behind the two points scoring factory riders, Platinum Bay's Darryn Binder fought hard for 17th place, having run within points at one stage.

Wildcard Stefano Manzi impressed with 20th, mere 0.028s behind 19th placed Jakub Kornfeil, as Albert Arenas ended as lead Peugeot rider in 22nd.

The Spanish rider's more experienced teammate John McPhee had a disappointing weekend ending 24th, with another rookie Marcos Ramirez in the Platinum Bay at 26th.

The last of the Indian manufacturer riders were Team Italia's Stefano Valtulini at 28th, teammate Lorenzo Petrarca 30th, sandwiching CIP's Fabio Spiranelli.

Among the non-finishers were newcomer Marco Bezzecchi and CIP's Tatsuki Suzuki.