MotoGP Austria – Lorenzo slams the hammer again!

Bruno Gomes

August 13, 2018

In another enthralling MotoGP race, Jorge Lorenzo and the Ducati Factory team had many reasons to celebrate at the end of the race at the Red Bull Ring, in Austria. The Spanish rider took his third win of the season in great style, winning a dogfight with Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) right until the checkered flag.

Starting from pole position, Marc Marquez gave up the lead in favor of Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Factory), but in the second corner Marquez tried to get back in front, but that move only gave way to Lorenzo to get the upper hand and run away at the front.

Marquez wasn’t going to let the Ducati rider escape, and slowly got back into the back of Lorenzo’s bike, until Lorenzo made a mistake and Marquez was again in first position. Dovizioso, on the other hand, couldn’t really get into the fight for the win, and slowly, lap after lap, lost time to both rider in front and secured a lonely third place.

At the front, Lorenzo and Marquez put on a great show for the fans, and the duo swapped positions a few times, before Lorenzo, on the penultimate lap, finally passed Marquez, and then hold off the Champion behind, to secure his third win of the season.

As for Hafizh Syahrin (Monster Tech3 Yamaha), following the first lap, was battling hard to come back from 21st. The Malaysian rookie made up one position after another and was able to keep his strong pace from the first to the last lap, where he had a tough run to the finish line, eventually ending up in 16th place, where he missed out on the points scoring positions by just 0.271 seconds. Before the entire championship settles over to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix in 12 days’ time, Syahrin defends his lead in the incredibly close Rookie of the Year classification.

In the MotoGP title race, Marc Marquez continues to be the leader, now with a 59-point lead over Valentino Rossi, who, as expected, suffered a lot in Austria, and only managed a sixth position, and now sees Jorge Lorenzo move to third, only 12 points behind.

In Moto2, Francesco Bagnaia (SKY VR46 Team) had another incredible fight with Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo), both of them fighting for the title in what will be a very close race until the end of the season.

Bagnaia started from pole, but right from the start Oliveira showed a great race pace and moved to the lead. After a close encounter with Fabio Quartararo on the first lap, Bagnaia started to close the one second gap to Miguel Oliveira, and with five laps to go the Italian tried the pass for the first time, with the Portuguese KTM rider fending him off.

It all came down to the penultimate corner, when Bagnaia tried to pass again, and when Oliveira answered to that attack he had to run a little wider than usual, and that was the moment that Bagnaia took to get the lead and stay in front until the finish line. Third position went to Luca Marini, Bagnaia teammate, another great result for Valentino Rossi’s brother.

This once again gives Bagnaia the championship lead by three points over Oliveira.

Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PrüstelGP) sealed his second race win of the season after leading from start to finish at the eyetime Austrian GP, beating a hard charging Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing) to second, with the truly heroic Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) completing the podium after a stunning race, just over a week after surgery on a broken left wrist.