Ducati’s victory drought ended at a circuit that very much suited their MotoGP monster, while Marquez scored valuable championship points.
It’s been a long time coming – nearly six years, to be precise – but Ducati is finally back to winning ways in MotoGP. And they did it in style, too, by finishing 1-2 in the race. At the AustrianGP, Andrea Iannone took his first ever win in the premier class motorcycle racing. The Italian fought tooth and nail with Andrea Doviziozo to take the top honours, forcing his teammate to settle for second spot. Joining the Ducati duo on the podium was Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, who will no doubt be beaming at the prospect of getting to ride a bike that looks like it will be competitive enough to challenge for wins and maybe even the world championship.
The podium was also a welcome relief for defending champion Lorenzo. The Spaniard returned to the podium after three horrid races in which he retired and then finished tenth and 15th. While it does not do much to dent the points deficit to Marc Marquez – who leads the riders championship with 181 points, 43 ahead of Lorenzo – it was a race in which he finished ahead of teammate Valentino Rossi who trails Lorenzo by 14 points. With eight rounds still left, there is still a lot left to play for.
The rider who probably came away from the event feeling like a hero, despite not finishing on the podium, would have to be Marquez. A crash in qualifying that led to a dislocated shoulder and not riding either the best handling or most powerful bike on the grid still resulted in a fifth place finish. It was damage limitation at its finest as the young Spaniard lost just five and two points to Lorenzo and Rossi, respectively. It was a remarkable ride by a truly remarkable rider but on this weekend, the focus was justifiably on the Ducatis and the embattled Iannone, who has less than charitably been titled ‘the maniac’ for his wild riding that has rubbed his current Ducati teammate Doviziozo and replacement Lorenzo up the wrong way this year.
Iannone started from pole ahead of Rossi and Dovizioso. It is a known fact that the stop-go layout of the circuit favours the Ducatis – the same was reflected during all the tests and practice sessions earlier. In the race, it turned out be a similar case. Although the Yamahas of Lorenzo and Rossi tried to challenge the Ducatis in the early laps, it was not enough. The Ducatis maintained a constant gap of around a second over the Yamaha duo for the entire race.
However, between the two Ducati riders, things were a lot more intense than usual. Iannone was racing on softer tyres as compared to his rivals, including Dovizioso, which helped him lead the pack right from the start. Dovizioso soon got the better of him, though, and took the lead during the middle stages of the race. Iannone, however, came back stronger to snatch the honour of taking Ducati’s first win since 2010 from his teammate.
Behind the race leaders, Lorenzo and Rossi were trying to get the better of each other for the final spot on the podium. Although Rossi was on the tail of his teammate for almost the entire race duration, he could not make any impression on Lorenzo. Rossi finished 4th.
Marquez ran a flawless and sensible race and finished gathering a very valuable 11 points. Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales crossed the line in sixth place.
Dani Pedrosa’s woes seem to be a never ending affair this year. He could only manage to finish seventh. Scott Redding, Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro completed the top ten in the race.
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