We rewind to August 14th, and a return of MotoGP to Austria, at the Red Bull Ring. Hard, medium, and soft tires are available. New hard and medium tires will meet the demands of the Red Bull Ring. This is the fastest circuit these blokes will race on all year, besides Phillip Island in Australia. Ducati's have horsepower to burn, but fuel mileage may be critical. It's nice to see sunshine. No rain in Austria. The location and the circuit, are both incredible. Five-time World Champion, Mick Doohan is here. He won the last time the bikes raced here, in the 500cc days, in 1997. Lots of car and motorcycle racing legends are in attendance to watch MotoGP including Mark Webber (ex F1 and sports car ace), Gerhard Berger (the native Austrian who was successful in F1), and also, a great racer on both two wheels and four, Venezuela's Johnny Cecotto.
Casey Stoner is also here. Ducati hopes for their first win in six years. There's no way you can predict a MotoGP race, especially here in Austria. Andrea Ianonne is on pole. Valentino Rossi will roll off in second. Ducati has done a last second tire compound switch. Check that. The hard tire is the least risk for everyone to take on this circuit. No discussion about going to the medium Michelin tire. Jack Miller had a big wreck in the morning warmup, to compound two other wrecks he had earlier in the weekend. So, he will not start, and will be a spectator rather than a competitor. In the crash, he fractured a vertebrae in his back, and also, his right wrist.
Marc Marquez is fifth. Jorge Lorenzo is also starting well. Maverick Vinales rolls off sixth. Lorenzo, mentioned earlier, is fourth, on the Yamaha. Lorenzo trails Marc Marquez by 48 points. Cal Crutchlow rolls off seventh. Scott Redding is eighth on the Octo Pramac Ducati. Andrea Dovizioso is third on the grid. Andrea Iannone has the softer front tire, while Dovizioso is on the harder Michelin front tire. Aleix Espargaro is ninth, and he has a fractured bone in his left hand. Iannone changes to the medium rear tire. Hector Barbera rounds out the top ten.
Eugene Laverty is 11th. 12th is Dani Pedrosa. Danilo Petrucci is 13th. 28 laps scheduled for this race in Austria. Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro round out the top 15. Smith has had a bad time this weekend. Both of these blokes will race for KTM in 2017. So, stand by for drama, as we prepare to race at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. This is the fastest track on the MotoGP calendar. This is the first all Italian front row in MotoGP in a decade, since Motegi, Japan, in 2006. Andrea Iannone has made a huge gamble. Will it pay off? We are set to race in Austria.
Marc Marquez has no painkillers in his shoulder. It is taped up. He should be good to go for this race. Here are our post time weather conditions. 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit), air temperature. 46 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit), track temperature. No threat of rain whatsoever, thankfully! It'll be hot for the tires. 95,000 fans are ready to watch a great race. 48 points Marc Marquez is ahead of Lorenzo in the championship. It is time, to race, in Austria, for the first time for MotoGP, and the first time for world championship motorcycle racing in 19 years!
Red lights, on. Red lights, out! Away we go! Andrea Iannone gets a good start, but a couple riders do jump the start. Hector Barbera was for sure one of them. Andrea Iannone leads, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso. It's a Ducati 1-2 as they head up the hill through turns one and two and into the treacherous turn three. Ianonne leads. Valentino Rossi is desperate to get past both of the Ducati's. Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo nearly made contact in turn one. Rossi makes a move up inside Dovizioso. Rossi splits the Ducati's as they barrel towards turn nine for the first time, coming up to complete the first lap here in Austria. Rossi sweeps inside Andrea Iannone for the lead!
Rossi leads, but the Ducati wants to take the spot back! 300 kilometers an hour towards turn three, up the hill. That's almost 188 miles an hour! Andrea Dovizioso goes inside Valentino Rossi! Rossi makes a mistake, and here comes Jorge Lorenzo to second! Ianonne has not yet broken away from the rest of the field. Will his tires be knackered at the end of the race? They plunge downhill to the final turn and Marc Marquez is right behind Valentino Rossi now. Rossi makes a pass on Andrea Dovizioso. Dovizioso and Ducati have the horsepower, even if Jorge Lorenzo manages to set fast lap so far at 1:25.646. Lorenzo is alongside Iannone as they race to turn four. Lorenzo tries Iannone and just barely gets held back! This is the closest race we've seen so far in 2016. Amazing stuff!
Rossi fights his way back past Marquez. Dovizioso resets fast lap at 1:25.403. Jorge Lorenzo takes the lead away from the Ducati into turn three! A number of riders did in fact jump the start. Hector Barbera and Stefan Bradl were some of them. Alvaro Bautista and Yonny Hernandez did so as well. Andrea Iannone continues to lead as Rossi sets new fast lap at 1:25.129. Maverick Vinales and Suzuki are having a great run in sixth place. Cal Crutchlow is another rider to jump the start. Yonny Hernandez is entering pit lane. Stefan Bradl is too. Clearly, it is to serve their penalties for jumping the start.
Andrea Dovizioso goes past Jorge Lorenzo. Alvaro Bautista serves his ride through penalty as well. Mechanical woes are evident for Stefan Bradl on the Aprilia. Game over. Well, no. He's still in the race. Rossi lowers fastest lap to 1:24.925 and is the first man in the 1:24 range. Working lap seven, as Cal Crutchlow is now in the lane. Bradl's stop was a miscommunication. Marc Marquez and Maverick Vinales haven't got the pace of the lead quartet. The gap has closed up. The top four are Ducati, Ducati, Yamaha, Yamaha. Your top fifteen right now are:
1. Andrea Ianonne
2. Andrea Dovizioso
3. Jorge Lorenzo
4. Valentino Rossi
5. Marc Marquez
6. Maverick Vinales
7. Hector Barbera
8. Eugene Laverty
9. Dani Pedrosa
10. Scott Redding
11. Aleix Espargaro
12. Bradley Smith
13. Danilo Petrucci
14. Pol Espargaro
15. Tito Rabat
Eugene Laverty does not have a secure future in MotoGP for next season. The race is now beginning to settle down. The Ducati's can't open too big a gap on everyone else. Hector Barbera just signed a new contract with Avintia Ducati. But he needs to serve his ride through penalty. Dovizioso is closing up on Andrea Ianonne. The riders chasing Ianonne have harder compound tires on their motorcycles. Stefan Bradl has to come back in for a second ride through penalty. He's had a fraught race so far. Dovizioso has taken over the race lead with 18 laps left now. He's had a good, long look at Ianonne and made the pass.
Barbera needs to pit. Fatigue is setting in for Marc Marquez, as Maverick Vinales wants to pass Marquez. Honda vs. Suzuki. Stefan Bradl goes back on track. Andrea Ianonne is also playing hurt. He damaged his ribs in a motocross wreck during the summer break, and has to be feeling sore. Andrea Dovizioso has now lowered fastest lap down to a 1:24.728. Marc Marquez ran horridly wide at turn one. Hector Barbera is given the black flag. He hasn't obeyed his penalty and will score nil points. Eugene Laverty will now be the top independent rider. A gap emerges between the Ducati's and the Yamaha's.
Marquez is dropping in pace and his shoulder is surely bothering him. Rossi and Lorenzo battle as Dovizioso continues to lead. If Rossi is going to challenge the Ducati's, he'll have to make a move ASAP. Hector Barbera is black flagged and headed to the garage. He's going to be furious. Dovizioso is chasing only his second MotoGP win in 250 starts. He is a world champion in the old 125cc class. Hector Barbera has finished in the last 19 races. But the streak is now over. We are on lap 14, half distance here in Austria. Rossi is struggling to run on par with Lorenzo.
Marc Marquez fends off the challenge from Maverick Vinales. Andrea Ianonne now lowers fastest lap to a 1:24.697. Ianonne is closing on Dovizioso. These two took each other out in Argentina. 12 laps left. This race is far from over. Rossi runs his personal best lap. Scott Redding passes Eugene Laverty, and Bradley Smith is also back there. Ducati leads, and Yamaha is coming. Both Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi are going for it. Paolo Ciabatti and Gigi Dall'Igna look on. Those two are the brain trust of the Ducati MotoGP team. Dovizioso now lowers fast lap down again, to a 1:24.686.
We have ten laps left in this race. This is a classic! Ducati has dominated this whole weekend. Can they hold on for a victory? The gap is now 4/10ths of a second. Dani Pedrosa is within a half a second of the race leaders, but is still far behind. The amazing part about a MotoGP bike, is some riders use only one finger to pull on the brake lever, to stop a monster, that has 260 horsepower, and can achieve a top speed of 220 miles an hour. Simply mind boggling. It is now a mano e mano fight between the Ducati riders. It's Bologna vs. Bologna. Ianonne resets fast lap at 1:24.628 and thinks about looking inside Dovizioso. No dice.
We could be watching a battle for third between the two Yamaha riders. It's been exactly 100 Grand Prix races since Ducati's last win in MotoGP at Phillip Island in Australia with Casey Stoner in 2010. Iannone leads Dovizioso by a tenth of a second. Dovizioso waits to try and pass "The Maniac" as Andrea Ianonne is called. This is personal. No love lost after the crash in Argentina. These two do not like each other. This will go all the way to the checkered flag. Ianonne leads by 3/10ths of a second now. Just six laps now remain. Make that five.
The gap between the Ducati's is 2/10ths of a second. Lorenzo is a second behind Ianonne. Lorenzo has been keeping Rossi at bay. Ducati chases their first win in six years. Four laps left. Ianonne has put in a new fast lap at 1:24.561. Ianonne is pulling away. Dovizioso is not letting him get away. Ianonne is under immense pressure. Aleix Espargaro brings his Suzuki to pit lane. Game over for Aleix Espargaro. Espargaro is in pain due to a broken finger. Lorenzo is now 1.7 seconds behind Dovizioso. Two laps remain at the Red Bull Ring. Will it be Iannone or Dovizioso taking the win for Ducati?
Your top fifteen as we come to the finish.
1. Andrea Iannone
2. Andrea Dovizioso
3. Jorge Lorenzo
4. Valentino Rossi
5. Marc Marquez
6. Maverick Vinales
7. Dani Pedrosa
8. Scott Redding
9. Bradley Smith
10. Aleix Espargaro
11. Eugene Laverty
12. Danilo Petrucci
13. Michele Pirro
14. Tito Rabat
15. Loris Baz
Marc Marquez does not lose an advantage in points, 43 points ahead of Jorge Lorenzo. It is the last lap. Ducati will get their first win in six years, if they hold on for one lap more. Which Andrea will do it? Half a lap to go now. Andrea Iannone is going to win in Austria! Ducati wins in MotoGP again! Andrea Iannone's first ever MotoGP win!
#29 Andrea Iannone ITA. Ducati
Eugene Laverty sadly, crashes out of the race at the final corner, from 11th spot! Oh dear! Cruel luck. Andrea Iannone, celebrates! 2,128 days since Ducati last won a race. Wow! Eugene Laverty will finish 18th. Riders who have won for Ducati in MotoGP in recent years include Casey Stoner, Loris Capirossi, Troy Bayliss, and now, Andrea Iannone. Andrea Dovizioso will not be happy with second place. The two Andrea's do not see eye to eye. What a great return of MotoGP to Austria. Next up for MotoGP, will be the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic. Stay tuned for that race report.
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