Dovizioso: “Marc always tries on the last lap!"
And try he did! But it wasn’t quite enough to overhaul a stunning win for Dovizioso and Ducati

One of the duels of the century was a first time affair: Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) vs Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) at the Red Bull Ring, with the duo fighting it out over the last lap. Going down to the final corner and a classic last lap lunge, the Italian emerged ahead over the line and in doing so took his third win of the year. He also moved back up in the standings to second – behind only Marquez.

Knowing the move was coming made for a stressful last lap, but the Borgo Panigale factory rider knew it would be far from easy – and knew both he and Ducati had set him up well for the battle:

Andrea Dovizioso, P1: “Marc always tries to do something on the last lap! It was difficult for me because I lost a lot in the two left corners, and it was easy for him to overtake me – I didn’t know he wasn’t close and I closed the door, so he had chance to catch me again. He had a chance in the last two corners, but the penultimate corner I braked very, very late and it was difficult for him. I didn’t expect him in the final corner, because there is no space, it’s not a braking zone. But I heard his engine the corner before the last, he opened the gas before me, and I knew he wanted to try. So I left the door open because if I didn’t he would have hit me and could have won. He was good stopping the bike and trying to exit, but I was faster.

"Every weekend you have the chance to change everything, or lose a lot."
“It was a stressful last lap but I’m happy with how we’ve worked throughout the weekend. Every day was different temperature and the tyres worked in a different way – but we understood the medium was good in qualifying and the soft in the race. This weekend we worked really well. I had to manage the tyre and I couldn’t push, and I saved the tyre at the beginning. If we hadn’t, we couldn’t have done those laptimes later in the race. A lot of people expected us to win easily here, but the rules have changed. Winglets were much better on this track last year. We knew that and we worked very well – the situation was very different this year. Everything changing is this year’s Championship. Every weekend you have the chance to change everything, or lose a lot. There are five riders fighting for it.”

NEROGIARDINI MOTORRAD GRAND PRIX VON ÖSTERREICH
MotoGP Race Classification 2017
Spielberg, Sunday, August 13, 2017

Pos. Points Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time/Gap
1 25 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 182.6 39'43.323
2 20 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 182.6 +0.176
3 16 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 182.4 +2.661
4 13 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Ducati Team Ducati 182.1 +6.663
5 11 5 Johann ZARCO FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 182.0 +7.262
6 10 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 182.0 +7.447
7 9 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 181.9 +8.995
8 8 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati 181.5 +14.515
9 7 76 Loris BAZ FRA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 181.1 +19.620
10 6 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 181.1 +19.766
11 5 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 181.0 +20.101
12 4 45 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Racing Ducati 180.6 +25.523
13 3 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 180.6 +26.700
14 2 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati 180.5 +27.321
15 1 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 180.4 +28.096
16 42 Alex RINS SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 180.1 +32.912
17 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 180.0 +34.112
18 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 179.8 +36.423
19 53 Tito RABAT SPA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 179.4 +42.404
20 22 Sam LOWES GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 178.6 +52.492

Not Classified
43 Jack MILLER AUS EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 180.6 9 Laps
9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA OCTO Pramac Racing Ducati 175.1 22 Laps
94 Jonas FOLGER GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 160.1 25 Laps
44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 142.0 26 Laps

Pole Lap: Marc MARQUEZ 1'23.235 186.7 Km/h