MotoGP Grand Prix of Austria 2016: Race Schedule, Live Stream and Top Riders

The second half of the 2016 MotoGP season gets underway in Austria this weekend with Honda's Marc Marquez holding a 48-point lead at the top of the standings over Yamaha rider and defending champion Jorge Lorenzo.

The Spanish pair both have three wins apiece from the nine races so far this year, but Marquez has built a healthy lead thanks to a number of podium finishes—he has only finished outside the top three once—and he goes into Sunday's race on the back of victory at the Sachsenring, Germany, last time out.

Italian legend Valentino Rossi has claimed two victories so far this season but three scoreless races has left him 59 points back from Marquez, and he needs a big performance at Spielberg's Red Bull Ring this weekend.

Read on for a closer look at the key riders for the Austrian race, along with full scheduling and live-streaming details.

Date	Time (BST)	Session
Saturday, August 13	8:55 a.m. - 9:40 a.m.	Free Practice 3
Saturday, August 13	12:30 p.m. - 1 p.m.	Free Practice 4
Saturday, August 13	1:10 p.m. - 1:25 p.m.	Qualifying 1
Saturday, August 13	1:35 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.	Qualifying 2
Sunday, August 14	1 p.m.	Race

Live streaming can be found at the BT Sport website (UK), beIN Sports CONNECT (U.S.) and FuboTV (U.S.).

Valentino Rossi 

Consistency has been a problem so far this season for the Yamaha riders, and Rossi and Lorenzo have allowed Marquez to build a lead in the last few races.

Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images

The 2015 champion finished 15th last time out, 10th in the Netherlands and did not finish in Catalonia. 

Meanwhile, Rossi, 37, won his second race of the season at the Catalan GP, but has since not finished in the Netherlands and managed only eighth place last time out in Germany.

The seven-time MotoGP champion said that Yamaha have proved they have the pace to win and assessed the track for the Austrian Grand Prix, per Crash.net:

"

I really want to get back on the track and do my best in this second half of the season. 

We have done good races up to this point. Some of them could have been better but we have proven that we're fast.

It is a particular type of track. It is very, very fast and just ten corners. The average speed is very high and you stay a lot of time at full throttle.

The track is interesting and sincerely I like the corners - especially when you go downhill on the left you have turns 5-6-7, and also the last two corners - but unfortunately there are not enough of them!

"

MotoGP is returning to Austria this weekend for the first time since 1997, and Rossi is the only current rider who has any experience of racing in the country, per Crash.net Moto GP:

It is his immense experience that sets him apart from the rest as he has won more than any other rider he is racing against.

However, Rossi is trailing the 23-year-old Marquez by a huge distance and will need to use all his know-how, and pace, to make up ground in Austria on Sunday.

Though he has been competitive in the last few seasons, Rossi has not won a championship since 2009, and if he falls any further back from the Spaniard this weekend, he may be effectively out of the running for 2016. 

Marc Marquez

Marquez is not getting carried away with the fact that he has opened up such a handsome lead midway through the season.

He insisted ahead of the Austrian race that he expects things to be tight in the second half of the campaign, per MotoGP.

There is clearly no room for complacency for the Honda rider with races coming thick and fast up until the season's close, per BT Sport MotoGP:

However, Marquez is the man to catch at the moment, and if he can maintain the consistency he had in the first half of the campaign, nobody will stop him.

Only in France back in May did the Spanish sensation finish off the podium as he could only manage 13th at Le Mans.

None of his rivals have shown anything like as good form, and he starts the second half of 2016 in winning mode, comfortable in the knowledge that others will have to work hard to overhaul his lead.