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.

Malaysia MotoGP 2019: Maverick Vinales storm to dominant victory

Spain Maverick Vinales stormed to a dominant victory in the Malaysian MotoGP as World Marc Marquez fought his way from near the back of the starting grid to finish second. Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso came in third but there was a disappointment for French rookie Fabio Quartararo, who only managed a lackluster seventh place after starting from pole.

Vinales dominated at the Sepang circuit from the outset, quickly breaking through the pack and taking the lead from the early stages after starting second on the grid. The Monster Energy Yamaha rider steadily extended his lead over the rest of the pack and never looked threatened. Vinales had a lead of about two seconds over Marquez soon after the halfway mark of the 20-lap race, and he finished over three seconds in front.

It was a major boost for Vinales following last week's Australian MotoGP, where he crashed out after leading for much of the race -- and handed victory to compatriot Marquez. The 24-year-old's second victory of the season leaves him in third place in the overall standings, with one race remaining. Marquez, crowned world champion for the sixth time last month, had started in 11th place after a terrifying crash in qualifying which saw him thrown from his bike. But the Repsol Honda rider surged into second place after just a few laps and stayed there until the end of the race. He opened up a big gap with the rest of the pack, finishing two seconds ahead of Dovizioso of Italy.

There was however a tough fight for third place between Dovizioso, who won at Sepang in 2016 and 2017, and nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi. Rossi managed to push past Dovizioso on several occasions, only for the Ducati rider to snatch the lead back and finish the race just ahead of his compatriot. Quartararo had dominated all weekend going into the MotoGP, topping the timesheets in practice and smashing the lap record, before seizing his fifth pole position of the season. But the 20-year-old Petronas Yamaha rider appeared no match for his more experienced rivals in the main race, quickly falling back at the start of the race. The MotoGP in tropical Malaysia has often been disrupted by torrential downpours in previous years but the rain stayed away this year for the whole weekend.

Japanese MotoGP 2019: Marc Marquez wins 2019 season

MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez won the Japanese Grand Prix with a pole-to-flag ride as Honda secured the constructor’s title at their home Motegi Circuit. The 26-year-old Spaniard had already made sure of his sixth MotoGP championship, and fourth in a row, a race earlier in Thailand on Oct 6.

The constructors' title was Honda's 25th, coming as the company celebrates 60 years in motorcycle racing. French rider Fabio Quartararo finished second for the non-works Petronas Yamaha team, 0.870 behind, to be sure of the MotoGP 'rookie of the year' accolade, with Italian Andrea Dovizioso third for Ducati.

The podium was Quartararo's sixth top-three finish of the season, but the 20-year-old is still awaiting a first win in the top category. His first lap attempt to get ahead of Marquez lasted only three corners. Marquez then led every lap as he made sure of his 54th victory in the top class, pulling him level in the all-time record books with retired Australian Mick Doohan.

Quartararo came under pressure at the finish on fading tyres, with Dovizioso closing the gap but running out of time to make a move. The Italian could still celebrate his 100th podium finish. Marquez has an unbeatable 350 points to Dovizioso's 231, with three races remaining in Australia, Malaysia and on home soil in Valencia. Honda have 356 points to Ducati's 270.

Yamaha's Maverick Vinales was fourth with Britain's Cal Cruchlow seizing fifth at the line for LCR Honda from Quartararo's team mate Franco Morbidelli. Yamaha's Italian great Valentino Rossi crashed four laps from the end while in 11th place, and Marquez's triple world champion team mate Jorge Lorenzo finished only 17th and 40 seconds behind the winner.

Catalan MotoGP 2019: Marc Marquez wins

MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez dominated the Catalan Grand Prix at Barcelona, after a crash for his Honda teammate Jorge Lorenzo took Andrea Dovizioso and the two factory Yamahas out of the race. Lorenzo, who had charged from 10th on the grid to join the lead battle, fell at the sharp Turn 10 left-hander while trying to pass Maverick Vinales, taking down his compatriot, as well as Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi in the process.

Marquez overtook pole-sitter Fabio Quartararo off the line, but yielded to a fast-starting Dovizioso at Turn 1, and was soon also briefly overtaken by Vinales. Having regained second place, the championship leader pressured Dovizioso, and snuck past the Ducati man on the second lap at Turn 10. At that same corner, Lorenzo committed down the inside of Vinales for third place but hit the deck on corner entry. His bike clattered into Dovizioso rear, and the resulting crash removed both Vinales and Rossi – who had gone wide to avoid the pile-up - from the race.

The crash left Marquez on his own up front, and promoted Ducati's Danilo Petrucci to second place, the Italian unable to keep pace with the Honda man but managing to fend off both Suzuki's Alex Rins and Quartararo, who had been as low as ninth after the opening lap. On the 10th lap, Rins launched his bike down the inside of Petrucci at Turn 1, briefly getting ahead but running wide on exit, allowing Petrucci to sweep around the outside of Turn 2.

Rins recovered to fourth, passing the fading Pramac Ducati of Jack Miller on the final lap, with Miller keeping the other Suzuki of Joan Mir at bay at the line. Pol Espargaro was the lead KTM in seventh, while his works teammate Johann Zarco rounded out the top 10, the pair split by LCR Honda's Takaaki Nakagami and Avintia Ducati's Tito Rabat. Aprilia's Andrea Iannone, Tech 3 KTM's Miguel Oliveira and Suzuki wildcard Sylvain Guintoli completed the list of 13 finishers.

Italian MotoGP 2019: Danilo Petrucci takes maiden victory

Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci secured his maiden MotoGP victory on home soil at Mugello after edging out Marc Marquez at the conclusion of a thrilling Italian Grand Prix. Petrucci held on in a tense showdown, beating Honda rider Marquez by only 0.043 seconds on the drag to the finish line, with Andrea Dovizioso making it two Ducati’s on the podium in third.

It marked the first win on his 125th start in the premier class for 28-year-old Petrucci, who replaced Jorge Lorenzo at the factory Ducati team for 2019. Petrucci led much of the second half of the race after he hit the front of the field at the start of the 11th lap of 23, as a pack of five riders broke clear of the rest following a chaotic first half.

Dovizioso, Marquez, Alex Rins and Jack Miller all followed in Petrucci's wake, but the Pramac rider crashed out of fifth spot. Petrucci briefly ceded the lead to team-mate Dovizioso at San Donato at the start of lap 20, but the less experienced Ducati rider was able to wrestle back the advantage later that lap at Scarperia. Dovizioso was able to draft back ahead to lead the final lap, but found himself squeezed by Marquez - who benefitted from a double tow on the outside and Petrucci on the inside.

In the morning, Petrucci rode a 1min 46.056sec lap, surpassing the previous record achieved by seven-time MotoGP champion Rossi last year. Dovizioso established a new outright speed record in MotoGP, clocking 356.7km/h in the third practice, to overtake the mark of 356.5 km/h also achieved at Mugello last year.

Argentina MotoGP 2019: Marc Marquez wins

After putting a spectacular fight in the first race of the season last month, Honda's Marc Marquez took a dominant win in the 2019 MotoGP Argentina Grand Prix. The rider completed the race with a massive lead of 9.816s over the rest of the pack, having led the race right from pole position. Coming in second was Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, going strong even as newer and younger riders take space on the grid. The Italian managed to pass Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso take P2, with each rider of the top three teams making it on the podium.

Marquez had a near perfect start to the race from pole and was quick to detach himself from the rest of the pack from Turn 1 of the opening lap. The Spaniard had a one-second lead at the end of the first lap, which extended to over three seconds by Lap 3, and was at its highest at 12 seconds by Lap 10, as the race reached half time. While Marquez was untouchable at the front, it was the battle for second place that brought in all the action over the 25 lap race.

Rossi had as a good start as Marquez and was quick to take second place, but Dovizioso was quick to challenge the position. The Ducati rider crossed Rossi early on into second place after the Italian ran wide at Turn 5 on Lap 7. However, Rossi recovered to P2 once again a lap later and held on to the position for the new six laps. Dovizioso was hot on his tail and found a gap on Lap 13 but with Rossi still a close third. It wasn't until the final lap that the Yamaha rider managed to pass Dovi at Turn 7 to retake P2 and cross the chequered flag.

Coming in fourth was Pramac Ducati rider Jack Miller, 12.140s over the race leader, after a late pass on Suzuki rider Alex Rins who finished fifth. Factory Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci took sixth. Yamaha's Maverick Vinales though finished was expected to take seventh after a poor started pushed the rider from P2 to P4 and eventually P8 by the second lap of the race. The Spaniard, however, was taken out by Petronas SRT Yamaha's Franco Morbidelli on the final lap.

The incident promoted LCR Honda's Takaaki Nakagami to seventh ahead of Yamaha Petronas rider Fabio Quartararo (Petronas), Aleix Espargaro of Aprilia and KTM's Pol Espargaro. Coming in 11th was Miguel Oliveira of Tech3 KTM, followed by Honda's Jorge Lorenzo in 12th place, same as his qualifying position.

Coming in 13th was LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow who had a strong chance to be a podium contender but earned a ride-through penalty for a jump start that left him fending for 13th. The final point takers were Pramac Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia and Johann Zarco for KTM. The last finishers were Tech3 KTM's Hafizh Syahrin followed by Aprilia's Andrea Iannone in 17th place.

Valencia MotoGP 2018: Andrea Dovizioso wins

A smashing and crash ridden finale to the 2018 MotoGP season, Ducati Andrea Dovizioso won the Valencia Grand Prix turning out to be one of the few riders to actually complete the very wet race.

The rain drenched track made for a spectacle at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, as the top riders were pulled out of contention after back-to-back crashes. The race was even stopped at half-point bringing with the red flag out, only to be started again for a 14 lap stint. Dovizioso ended the season just like he started it - with a win. However, the race was a game changed for KTM, which saw rider Pol Espargaro take his and the team's first ever podium in the sport. Suzuki's Alex Rins took his fifth podium of the season, finishing behind Dovizioso.

The Valencia GP started out wet but was drying when the race begun. However, it wasn't long before the clouds were back over the circuit and the track was soaked again. Yamaha's Maverick Vinales started on pole in a surprise qualifying session, but couldn't hold on to the lead for long as Rins and Dovi were quick to pass the rider on Turn 2 of the opening lap. Rins took the lead and was a good 2 seconds clear of Dovi. The next few laps saw Rins extend his gap further to 4 seconds.

Bringing an end to a legendary career, Honda's Dani Pedrosa completed his final MotoGP race in fifth place, ahead of Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami. Tech3 Yamaha's Johann Zarco and KTM's Smith finished at P7 and P8. Tech3's rookie rider Hafizh Syahrin finished tenth behind Stefan Bradl, who was standing in for LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow. Aprilia's Scott Redding finished 11th, ahead of Ducati's Jorge Lorenzo and a damaged Yamaha ridden by Rossi. Bautista, who also crashed, re-mounted to finish 16th, behind Angel Nieto's Karel Abraham, who moves back to WSBK next year and Jordi Torres.