MotoGP: Lorenzo fights off Marquez for Austrian GP win

Jorge Lorenzo took the Austrian Grand Prix victory in thrilling fashion, beating Marc Marquez in a last lap shoot-out to take his third win for Ducati. Teammate Andrea Dovizioso was 3rd in the race, having run with Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez for part of the race.

Lorenzo never dropped outside of the top three at all, initially losing time to Marc Marquez in the early stages of the race. The Spaniard closed in on Marquez and made his move, having to have to pass Andrea Dovizioso a lap before to stay in 2nd place. Lorenzo and Marquez scrapped it out and exchanged places three times on the last lap, with the Ducati winning for a third time in Austria ahead of Marquez and Honda, who were thwarted again.

Behind the leading trio, Cal Crutchlow put in a sterling effort to take 4th, ahead of Danilo Petrucci and a valiant Valentino Rossi, who came from 14th on the grid to 6th on his ill-handling Yamaha. Dani Pedrosa was right in behind ‘The Doctor’ and took 7th, whilst Alex Rins, Johann Zarco and the revelation of Alvaro Bautista completed the top ten.

Tito Rabat, who ran 7th for the majority of the race came home in 11th, whilst it was dismal showing from Maverick Vinales, languishing in 12th. Andrea Iannone fought back to 13th after running on, with Bradley Smith giving KTM some home points in 14th and Takaaki Nakagami in 15th.

Big names such as Aleix Espargaro, Jack Miller, Franco Morbidelli and Scott Redding all failed to score points, whilst Xavier Simeon was the only crasher from the Grand Prix.

“It was an incredible race, maybe one of the best of my career, quite simply spectacular! Winning with Ducati on this circuit, where I had never won before, after a close quarters battle with Marquez, has a really special taste. Before the race I had thought about which strategy to use, and I decided to do like Brno, administering the tyre wear well and then attacking in the final part of the race, especially because I was one of the few riders who had chosen ‘soft’ tyres and my riding style allowed me to conserve them until the end,” said a jubilant Lorenzo, adding significance to a race that was all about tyre wear.

“When I found myself fighting against Marquez I knew that it was going to be difficult to pass him, so I decided to improvise by making the best use of the Desmosedici GP’s acceleration and it worked perfectly. Now we’re third in the championship standings, but above all I’m proud and very pleased with the way we’re working because the feeling with the bike is better and better all the time and I believe we can fight for the win in many other races. Now let’s just enjoy this moment with all the team and I’m also very happy for them.”