Larry Lawrence | August 14, 2016
The Ducati squad was ecstatic with a 1-2 in the Austrian round of the MotoGP Championship on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring. Winner Andrea Iannone is standing on the left. (Photo by Gold & Goose)
It was an historic day in Spielberg, Austria on Sunday. Andrea Iannone held off his factory Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso in round 10 of the 18 race MotoGP series at Austria’s Red Bill Ring to give Ducati its first MotoGP victory since Casey Stoner’s win at the Australian GP in 2010. Only adding to the significance, it also marked the first MotoGP victory for the 27-year-old Iannone and the first Motorcycle Grand Prix race in Austria since 1997. Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo rounded out the rostrum finishers in third, having held off his teammate Valentino Rossi in the final laps.
Lorenzo and Rossi were able to make back a few points on series leader Marc Marquez, who finished fifth while nursing a sore shoulder that was dislocated in a crash on Saturday. Marquez now holds a 43-point lead over Lorenzo (181-138). Rossi in third with 124 points.
For Iannone, who is departing Ducati for Suzuki after this season, it was an emotional victory.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” said the Italian searching for the words to say. “I don’t have a… so it’s very, very difficult to explain these emotions. It’s my first victory in MotoGP class. I started in this class with Ducati and I work for all these four years with this incredible group who supported me 100 percent from the beginning. And now I know in the end their decision and I finish my ride, my contract with Ducati, but I think we keep a very good present and this is the best way for change the way.”
From pole Iannone led the pack into the first turn. Marquez got into the first corner hot and force Lorenzo wide, allowing Rossi to slip into third. Rossi wasted no time getting by Dovizioso and Iannone for the lead. But then a huge shift up front when Dovizioso tried to stuff his Ducati up inside Rossi only to run them both wide, giving Lorenzo the opportunity to move to second.
On lap three Lorenzo briefly took over the lead at turn three, but Iannone was quickly back by, using the power of his Ducati on an uphill section. Marquez, taking advantage of an overrun by Rossi moved to fourth, just behind Dovi.
Five riders jumped the start and would have to serve a stop and go penalty. Hector Barbera, Yonny Hernandez, Alvaro Bautista, Cal Crutchlow and Stefan Bradl.
Six laps in and Dovizioso made an inside move on Lorenzo to take second, perhaps sensing that his Ducati teammate was getting too big of a lead.
The hectic beginning settled a bit by lap eight with the top six riders, Iannone, Dovi, Lorenzo, Rossi, Marquez and Maverick Viñales, breaking away from the rest of the field.
With 18 laps to go it was Dovizioso moving his Ducati to the front passing his teammate, Iannone, perhaps fatiguing a bit from his rib injury.
Hector Barbera ignored his penalty board and was ordered black flagged, ending his strong race in seventh. Barbera told his crew that the penalty did not come up on his dashboard.
At half distance there was now daylight between the leading factory Ducatis ahead of the Yamahas of Lorenzo and Rossi. Then another gap back to the Marquez- Viñales battle.
With 10 laps to go the Yamaha duo of Lorenzo and Rossi closed the gap on the leading Ducatis and now the leading quartet ran nose to tail with just 3-10ths of a second separating first through fourth. But then over the next two laps the Ducati riders were able to respond to the challenge and reestablish a gap.
Iannone was back to the lead with seven laps to go as the factory Ducati pair battled fiercely up front.
The final two laps were a bit anticlimactic as Iannone was able to stretch his lead over Dovizioso and Lorenzo in a distant third, easily holding Rossi at bay to the flag. Iannone official margin of victory was 0.938 seconds.
Eugene Laverty crashed out of a top 10 on the last corner.
Next weekend the championship moves to Automotodrom Brno for the Czech Republic Motorcycle Grand Prix.
NEROGIARDINI MOTORRAD GRAND PRIX VON ÖSTERREICH MotoGP Race Classification 2016 Spielberg, Sunday, August 14, 2016
