Spielberg, Austria – With two first-time winners, a new record as the fastest track on the Moto GP calendar, perfect weather, a massive crowd, and Ducati’s return to the top of the podium after a six-year drought, it has to be said that the first Austrian Grand Prix since 1997 was a raging success.
The races were all dramatic in different ways. In the Moto GP class, after the tests a month ago Ducati was expected to dominate because of the bikes’ amazing power – the track (now called the Red Bull Ring because of ownership by the highly-caffienated sugar drink of the same name) consisting mostly of long straights and slow corners, favouring the Italian machines’ strong acceleration and top speed.
In the event, Andrea Iannone did win for Ducati (his first Moto GP victory and Ducati’s first since Casey Stoner back in 2010) with team-mate Andrea Dovizioso second. But the Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi unexpectedly made it a real race, pushing the red bikes hard until half-distance after which the Yamahas slowly dropped off as the Italian team-mates continued pushing for the victory.
Iannone – dropped by Ducati for 2017 – was of course over the moon with his first win, while you never saw a sadder second-place finisher than team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, Dovi staying with Ducati next season while Iannone moves to Suzuki.
Honda was pretty much nowhere all weekend, although Marc Marquez managed a fifth, riding through unimaginable pain after completely dislocating his left shoulder in a crash in Saturday practice. That minimized his loss of points to Lorenzo (who was celebrating his third place like a win, after several horrible races) so he’s still in a solid place for this year’s title.
In the Moto 2 race, series leader Johann Zarco once again took the top spot, but it wasn’t easy. Starting from pole, he got pushed out in the first corner after the start, and had to work hard to get back to the front. However, he managed his tires better than anyone, and after grabbing the lead from fast-starting Franco Morbidelli at 3/4 distance, he simply left the rest behind. He added considerably to his post-race reputation by doing his usual backflip off a tire wall – but this time clad in a set of lederhosen provided track-side in honour of his Austrian hosts!
The Moto 3 race was the usual close-quarters combat, ending up finally with Spanish teen Juan Mir taking his first victory. Like Jorge Lorenzo, Mir hails from Majorca, and you have to wonder what’s so special about that small island to breed two such fast racers. South African Brad Binder managed second in spite of an intermittent engine problem, proving once again his amazing skill and racecraft.
Binder looks pretty much in control of the Moto 3 title chase this season; closest rival Jorge Navarro crashing out of this round, and third-place contender Romano Fenati being sent home in disgrace before the race by the team (that being the VR46 group owned by Valentino Rossi) – the press release said, only “Following repeated behavior not in line with the disciplinary rules of a Team – the rider Romano Fenati has been suspended. He will not be on the starting grid of the Austrian Grand Prix.” There seems to be some question if he’ll be back at all, and of course his projected move to Moto 2 next year with the team now seems seriously in question. The problem seems to be continuing abusive behaviour toward his crew chief and other members of the team.
MotoGP Top 10 (after Austrian GP)
1). Marc Marquez, Honda, 181 pts.
2). Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha, 138 pts.
3). Valentino Rossi, Yamaha, 124 pts.
4). Dani Pedrosa, Honda, 105 pts.
5). Maverick Vinales, Suzuki, 93 pts.
6). Andrea Iannone, Ducati, 88 pts.
7). Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati, 79 pts.
8). Pol Espargaro, Yamaha, 78 pts.
9). Hector Barbera, Ducati, 65 pts.
10). Scott Redding, Ducati, 53 pts.
