The Austrian round of the MotoGP championship was held under sunny skies with excellent track conditions earlier today. Not surprisingly, the factory Ducatis ran up front nearly the entire race with Andrea Iannone eventually taking a close win over Andrea Dovizioso. Jorge Lorenzo held off his Factory Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi to take third — a pleasing result for him following a series of sub-par performances.
Ducati ended a six-year drought by taking the win today (Casey Stoner last won a MotoGP race on a Ducati in 2010). This was Iannone’s first MotoGP win.
Marc Marquez continues to have a sizable lead in the championship. Here are the results from earlier today:
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Team | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 25 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati Team | Ducati | 39’46.255 |
| 2 | 20 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | Ducati | +0.938 |
| 3 | 16 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +3.389 |
| 4 | 13 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +3.815 |
| 5 | 11 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +11.813 |
| 6 | 10 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +14.341 |
| 7 | 9 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +17.063 |
| 8 | 8 | 45 | Scott REDDING | OCTO Pramac Yakhnich | Ducati | +29.437 |
| 9 | 7 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | +29.785 |
| 10 | 6 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | +37.094 |
| 11 | 5 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | OCTO Pramac Yakhnich | Ducati | +39.765 |
| 12 | 4 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati Team | Ducati | +39.766 |
| 13 | 3 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Avintia Racing | Ducati | +44.284 |
| 14 | 2 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | +45.004 |
| 15 | 1 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda | Honda | +1’03.246 |
| 16 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +1’12.448 | |
| 17 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Pull & Bear Aspar Team | Ducati | +1’14.517 | |
| 18 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | Pull & Bear Aspar Team | Ducati | +1’36.510 | |
| 19 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 1 Lap |
See more of MD’s great photography:
It was good to see Ducati at the top podium spot after so many years though I was hoping that Dovi would occupy the top spot. As usual the real excitement was in Moto3.
What has happened to Dani? He has become an “also ran”. Sad to see him doing so poorly.
Well done, Ducati! Here’s hoping KTM climbs the podium in another year or two. Competition Is Good.
re: “Ducati ended a six-year drought by taking the win today”
ladies gentlemen behold, the man who’s just won Olympic Gold for Italy in the “200 MPH Relay”. (Tricolore flies, crowd stands, Italian Anthem plays)
NORM!
I know, it’s like Homecoming week!
great race for the top three, and a good performance for Marquez considering his shoulder injury. and an even more impressive win for Iannone considering he is also injured.
that has to be massively disappointing for Dovi. another good race, nice to see things being mixed up a bit. as i had though previous, Ducati is letting the wrong rider go…
“as i had though previous, Ducati is letting the wrong rider go…” – why do you say this? Iannone may have won, but he also has a tendency to take down others, including his teammate…not ideal.
Casey Stoner had the reputation of being a last lap crasher in 125 too and look where that got him. Iannone is faster and more aggressive than Dovi and propably would have been a better long term choice. Will Jorge come to terms with the Ducati is the real question.
Been saying this for quite some time, but unless Ducati make their bike as smooth as silk JL is going to have problems.
JL needs a well sorted and balanced bike like the M1. He doesn’t seem to handle the wild ponys very well, so he may be in for a world of hurt next season.
“Ducati is letting the wrong rider go…”
Lorentho should like to look as best he can next year on the Duc…which teammate does He want to make Him look the best?
If you were hired as a team rider for Honda and needed impress you new employer would you prefer to race against marc or pedorasa for most wins/points of your team?
Congrats to Ducati and Iannone. He ran a near perfect race. Those Ducs were fast down the straights for sure. Was hoping Val would get past Lorenzo and onto the podium, but no, so we had to watch Lorenzo coming across the line, celebrating and shaking his head like he had actually won. I guess he was celebrating that it didn’t rain. Marquez did well considering.
Poor Laverty, dropping it in the last corner after riding a good race.
Isn’t Lorenzo going to be riding a Ducati next year?
why yes he is, for $20 mil a year for the next 2 years.
Laverty was knocked down by Petrucci. Petrucci was penalized, but that doesn’t help Eugene.
Don’t be so bitter that JLo beat Rossi in a fair fight. More clearly than the Ducati team changes, yamaha are losing the fastest of their two riders next year.
I’m not bitter lol. I just don’t care for Jlos antics as he crosses the finish line and I’m far from the first to say that. I think he’s a great and very talented rider and it will be interesting to see how he does next year on the Duc, although if winning means an increase in the stupid celebrations I’d just as soon see him finish 4th every time. FWIW I feel the same about football players who make touchdowns and then celebrate exorbitantly. Show some class and act like you’ve been there before.
Ha! You’ve abviously forgotten all the staged theatrical celebrations of Rossi through the years, then! Imagine all the costumes gathering dust in someone’s roof space…..
No I remember them and how ridiculous I thought they were then, but see he has since learned. He now shows some decorum. I guess these day every youngster feels he needs to get his celebration shown on Sports Center or something. Problem is Lorenzo is no longer a youngster. Multi-time World Champions should be examples of how to act.
Unless of course it’s raining. Really, the Doc was not quite 0.5 sec behind Jorge after 28 laps so I’m not sure “fastest” is the right word to describe Jorge over Vale. OK, on that Sunday but not always.
Rossi is getting too old to bet on. He’s fast and consistent but if he has a problem or injury, his return to form is far more uncertain than it was even a few years ago.
Jorge is faster then Rossi. Since Jorge arrived to Motogp who has won more championships? That would be #99. Currently the champ and also 2nd in points this year. Rossi hasn’t won since 2009.And look at the race wins since Jorge started back in 2008..not even close. Jorge 46 wins to Rossi’s 26.
Jorge is faster, but there is no disputing which of the two is more valuable. It appears that Yamaha has chosen Rossi over the MotoGP title because they believe this brings more marketing R.O.I. than winning the title. They are probably right.
Of course VR46 did two years on the rock pile riding the Ducati and may have missed out on maybe 10 victories some of which would have come out of George’s total. So no, I don’t recognize that either one is any faster than the other. I’ll be a believer when Jorge’s premier class victories are over 114.