Andrea Iannone crossed the line in first position taking the first victory for Ducati since Australia 2010. Ducati made a one-two with Andrea Dovizioso in second position. Jorge Lorenzo completes the podium in the Austrian Grand Prix.
After 17 years without the Austrian Grand Prix, the Alps region of Styria with the new branded, Red Bull Ring, is the house for motorbike world this weekend. Before the race, Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0.0 Marc VDS) was declare “unfit” to race after a nasty crash at turn 8 during the warm-up.
Before the start of the race, the majority of the riders decided to put the medium tyre in front and the hard in the rear of their motorbikes. But Ducati of Iannone, decided to race with a radical tyre choice with soft in front and medium in the rear.
At the start, Anderea Iannone from pole position kept the first place ahead of Dovizioso and Rossi. Márquez and Lorenzo made contact but continued behind “Vale”. At the end of the lap “The Doctor” made up to first but immediately Iannone overtook his compatriot to take the lead.
With Iannone on the lead, Lorenzo overtook his team mate and Dovizioso for the first place, but the Spaniard then lost the second place with Dovizioso who put on pressure Iannone and took the lead.
After ten laps, Dovizioso was leading ahead of Iannone, Lorenzo and Rossi. Márquez and Viñales were running on fifth and sixth trying to follow the Yamaha’s who tried to catch Iannone who couldn’t keep the pace of Dovizioso.
Behind the top7, Hector Barberá (Avintia Racing) was disqualified due to the non-compliance of a ride through penalty because of jump start. A penalty that Bautista, Bradl, Hernández and Crutchlow had as well.
The Ducati’s during the race managed to build a gap with the Yamaha’s. So Iannone with a radical tyre choice, overtook Dovizioso for the lead until the checkered flag.
Ducati after many years takes his maiden victory in MotoGP. The last victory for Ducati was in 2010 at Phillip Island with Casey Stoner. Iannone beat Dovizioso today and Lorenzo did the same on Rossi for the last step of the podium.
Out of the top4, Márquez finished fifth ahead of Viñales and Pedrosa. Scott Redding (first private motorbike) was eight ahead of Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaró who completes the top 10 after a great comeback.
Cal Crutchlow who has been penalized score one point finishing in 15th position, thanks to Eugene Laverty crash at last turn in the last lap.
In the rider’s championship, Márquez continued in the top of the standings with 181 points, 43 points more than Lorenzo who is now second. Rossi is third 57 points behind as Pedrosa is fourth with 76 points less than his team mate.
In the constructor’s championship, Yamaha still leading the way with 202 points ahead of Honda with 196. Ducati is third with 53 points less than Yamaha.
In the team’s championship, Repsol Honda Team (Pedrosa & Márquez) continue in the lead with 24 points more than Movistar Yamaha Team. Ducati Team with the one-two overtakes the Team Suzuki Ecstar for the third position.
In the independent rider’s championship, after a great comeback today, Pol Espargaró leads with 13 points more than Barberá who today was DSQ. Redding is coming back stronger and is up to third equally on points with Eugene Laverty.
The next Grand Prix will be held at Brno for the Czech Republic Grand Prix.