MotoGP Austria: Dovi wins stunning Marquez duel!
Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso has taken his third win of the seaso꧙n after beating Marc Marquez in a thrilling duel at the Austrian MotoGP.
Having passed Dovi's team-mate Jorge Lorenzo on🍸 lap 12 of 28, the♑ pair were rarely separated by more than a few bikelengths.
It was꧟n't a 'game of chess', waiting until the end, either - the 𓆉pair exchanged the lead five times on a single lap!
That briefly allowed Dani Pedrosa to reach the lead battle, bu🥃t the #26 couldn't keep pace.
Ducati's ꦕAndrea Dovizioso has taken his third win of the season after beating Marc Marquez in a thrilling duel at the Austrian MotoGP.
Having✨ passed Dovi's team-mate Jorge Lore𒆙nzo on lap 12 of 28, the pair were rarely separated by more than a few bikelengths.
It wasn't a 'game of chess', waiting until the end, either - 📖the pair exchanged the lead fiಞve times on a single lap!
That briefly allowed Dani Pe♏drosa to reach the lead battle, bu𒐪t the #26 couldn't keep pace.
A Turn 1 mistake by Marquez threatened to hand Dovizioso victory with three laps to go, but the Repsol Honda star (using the medium-hard tyre combination) reeled t꧋he Desmosedici (med-soft) back in to set-up a♐ Hollywood ending.
Marquez lurked on Dovizioso's rear wheel for most of the last lap, an inquisitive move at the penult♉imate corner being followed by an 'on-the-limit' attack at the final turn. Dovizioso saw it coming and cut back inside the sliding RCV on the exit, casually waving his hand as he rode to what was surely the best victory of his career.
Dovi's celebrations were ෴in stark contrast to the misery of a narrow defeat to team-mate Andrea Iannone one yea💮r ago.
Pedrosa completed the podium, four seconds ahead of Lorenzo. The #99 chose the same tyres as Dovizioso, and looked back to hi🤪s best when holding the lead, but still needs to work on maintaining his pace.
Dovizio💮so and Lorenzo were both using the new Ducati fairing, which reduces some of their top speed advan💝tage, but aids acceleration and braking.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rookie Johann Zarco was the top M1 rider, in fifth pl꧂ace on the soft-soft tyres. The Frenchman got the better of factory stars Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi, who mirrored Lorenzo's loss oꦫf speed after the opening ten laps.
Dovi has now passed Vinales ౠfor second in the world championship, 16 points from Marquez. Vinales is 24 from Marquez, with Rossi 33 points behind.
Aspar Ducati's Alvaro Bautista was eighth, while Loris Baz (Avi🤡ntia Ducati) and KTM wild-card Mika Kallio had a day to remember by filling the re꧋st of the top ten.
Regular KTM rider Pol Espargaro's race ended when he clipped another rider at the start and suffered lever damage. Zarcཧo's team-mate Jonas Folger and Pramac's Danilo Petrucci also made an early exit due to technical problems.
Marc VDS Honda's Jack Miller was the only fa💦ller...
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi🙈 come and go. He is at the f♏orefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
