Red Bull Ring MotoGP: Dovizioso wins crash-strewn race

Franco Morbidelli collided with Johann Zarco’s Ducati on the run through the ultra-fast Turn 2 on lap nine of the original start, with the Avintia bike vaulting in the air after smashing into the air fence on the outside of Turn 3.

The Petronas Yamaha slid straight into the path of the factory Yamaha of Valentino Rossi, the bike flying by inches away from Rossi.

The red flag was brought out to clear the chaos, with all involved walking away mercifully unscathed.

KTM’s Pol Espargaro led the race when it was halted and started from pole for the 20-lap restart, while championship leader Fabio Quartararo had to come from last after running off track at Turn 4 on the sixth tour.

Pramac’s Jack Miller gambled on fitting the soft front tyre for the restart and used his grip advantage over the rest to take the lead early on.

Miller got his gap out to over a second by the sixth lap ahead of Dovizioso and Alex Rins, who had just overhauled Espargaro for third.

Espargaro had a scrappy few laps and continued to drop places, with a collision with Tech 3 KTM’s Miguel Oliveira at Turn 4 - when the former tried to cut back onto the racing line having run wide – ending both rider’s days on the ninth lap.

By now, Miller’s front grip was fading and Dovizioso pounced at the first turn on lap 10, with Rins following him through at the end of the tour.

The Suzuki rider got on terms with Dovizioso and launched his GSX-RR up the inside  of the Ducati at Turn 6 on lap 11 – but the front end slid out from under him and Rins’ hopes of victory were over.

Dovizioso eased off his pace just after the mid stage, but wound his Ducati back up in the closing laps to claim the marque’s 50th MotoGP victory by 1.3 seconds.

The sole surviving Suzuki of Joan Mir hounded Miller in the final laps, but the Ducati rider used his GP20’s supreme grunt to keep the Spaniard at bay.

However, Miller ran wide at the penultimate corner on the last lap, which allowed Mir into second to claim his maiden premier class podium.

The chaos ahead of him allowed Brad Binder to get up to fourth from 17th on the grid, moving to 26 points behind Quartararo in the standings in fourth.

Rossi brushed off the incident from the first start to come home fifth as top Yamaha rider ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami and the Ducati of Danilo Petrucci.

Quartararo recovered to eighth from last, but his standings lead is now just 11 from race winner Dovizioso.

Iker Lecuona got to the chequered flag in ninth on the Tech 3 KTM, with Maverick Vinales completing the top 10 after encountering a mysterious bike issue which left him last on lap one.

Aleix Espargaro got his Aprilia home in 11th ahead of Pramac stand-in Michele Pirro, Bradley Smith on the second Aprilia, Honda’s Alex Marquez and the LCR of Cal Crutchlow. 

Austrian MotoGP - race results:

Cla	Rider		Bike	Gap
1	Andrea Dovizioso		Ducati
2	Joan Mir		Suzuki	1.377
3	Jack Miller		Ducati	1.549
4	Brad Binder		KTM	5.526
5	Valentino Rossi		Yamaha	5.837
6	Takaaki Nakagami		Honda	6.403
7	Danilo Petrucci		Ducati	12.498
8	Fabio Quartararo		Yamaha	12.534
9	Iker Lecuona		KTM	14.117
10	Maverick Viñales		Yamaha	15.276
11	Aleix Espargaro		Aprilia	17.772
12	Michele Pirro		Ducati	23.271
13	Bradley Smith		Aprilia	24.868
14	Alex Marquez		Honda	24.943
15	Cal Crutchlow		Honda	27.435
16	Tito Rabat		Ducati	28.502
17	Stefan Bradl		Honda	28.609
	Alex Rins		Suzuki
	Pol Espargaro		KTM
	Miguel Oliveira		KTM
	Franco Morbidelli		Yamaha
	Johann Zarco		Ducati
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