MotoGP 2020: Andrea Dovizioso wins Austrian Grand Prix

Andrea Dovizioso won an eventful Austrian MotoGP for Ducati just 24 hours after revealing he would leave the Italian team at the end of the season. Spain’s Joan Mir on a Suzuki robbed Ducati of a one-two by clinching the second spot from Australian Jack Miller with a single corner to spare. 

In a two way tangle on lap eight at the empty Spielberg circuit, Yamaha's Morbidelli and Zarco hit the deck at high speed. Zarco's Ducati carried on without him, cut a corner and narrowly missed the veteran Valentino Rossi, who was clearly shaken by the close shave and who went on to take fifth. The riderless bike exploded into pieces at a safety barrier scattering debris through the air as the race was red-flagged.

This was Ducati's fifth consecutive MotoGP success at Spielberg and their 50th in the elite division. The MotoGP standings continue to be led by Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha's satellite SRT team rider and winner of the coronavirus-curtailed season's first two races in Jerez. The Frenchman finished eighth in this fourth leg of the campaign.

 

The day's big loser was Maverick Vinales, who had started from pole on his Yamaha only to trail in 10th and lose his second position in the championship to Dovizioso. South African Brad Binder, who celebrated his breakthrough MotoGP win last weekend in Brno, took fourth for home team KTM. Defending champion Marc Marquez was missing for the third race in a row following surgery on a broken arm sustained in a crash in the season-opening Spanish Grand Prix.