MotoGP AustrianGP : Lorenzo beats Marquez at the Red Bull Ring

USPA NEWS - Wonderful victory for Jorge Lorenzo in the GP of Austria, played today at the Red Bull Ring circuit near Zeltweg in Styria. The Mallorcan rider, who started from the front row thanks to the third time obtained in qualifying yesterday, chose to start with both "soft" tires for the race and, after passing in first position on the finish line of the first lap, was then passed from Marquez and followed him up to the eighteenth passage together with Dovizioso. Having resumed the command of the race on the following lap, Jorge fought with the Honda rider until the end of the race, crossing the line with an advantage of 130 thousandths. Thanks to today's victory, Jorge Lorenzo climbed to third place in the overall drivers' standings, with 130 points, followed by his team-mate Dovizioso (129 points). The Ducati has won the third consecutive victory at the Red Bull Ring since the MotoGP returned to the Austrian circuit (2016 Iannone, 2017 Dovizioso and 2018 Lorenzo). Today Marc Marquez scored a hard-fought second place at a sunny Red Bull Ring,

Marc ultimately missed the win by only 0.130“, and definitely not for lack of trying. After taking the lead on the second lap, he tried to pull a gap at the front, but Lorenzo and Dovizioso closely chased him for most of the race. An inevitable battle was looming. Although he still has yet to tame the Red Bull Ring, Marc leaves the track with an increased advantage in the points standings (+59 over Valentino Rossi) and the enjoyment he always feels after having given it his all in a race battle. The Repsol Honda Team is now leading the Team standings, Honda the Constructor and Marc Marquez the Rider Standings.

Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team # 99) - 1st "It was an incredible race, perhaps one of the best in my career, a simply spectacular race! Winning with Ducati on this circuit where I had not yet won, after a hand to hand with Marquez, has a very special flavor. Before the race I thought about what strategy to adopt, and I decided to do as in Brno, managing well the degradation of the tires and then attacking in the last part of the race, especially because I was one of the few drivers to have chosen "soft" tires and my driving style allowed me to preserve them until the end. When I found myself struggling with Marquez, I knew it would be very difficult to pass it, and I decided to improvise by making good use of the acceleration of the Desmosedici GP and it worked perfectly. Now we are third in the championship, but I am especially proud and very happy with how we are working because I am getting better and better with the bike and I think we can fight for the victory in many other races. Now we have to enjoy this moment with the whole team and I am very happy for them too. "

Marc Marquez 2nd “Today I enjoyed the race a lot because I finished second but really gave it everything. In Brno I didn´t have enough confidence, while here, I tried. I started to push hard from the beginning as I had chosen the hard rear tyre with the target of trying to open a gap early on, because I knew that Dovi and Lorenzo would be very fast at the end of the race, when the tyres dropped. That was our strategy today and for a short while I believed I would be able to carry it out, but soon they caught me again. It was a great battle. I tried to defend, to change my lines, but it was impossible. This is a track where they´re very strong, especially on the straights. In these situations we try to manage at our best, and we also have our very competitive points; we were very strong on braking and entering the corners. For sure we will use those strengths and have our say at other tracks. So far we´ve always been right there, always on the podium, and that´s the most important thing. We lost only five points on Lorenzo and gained more on Valentino, who´s second in the standings. We´re happy with this result; we´ve done a great job here.“

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team # 04) - 3rd "At the beginning of the race unfortunately I never managed to really get into the fight for the first place because I could not pass Jorge even if at that moment of the race I was faster than him, and to try it I used too much the rear tire it fell a lot to ten laps from the end and this affected my race a little bit. From that point on I could not do much anymore because I could no longer connect the curves well. It's a pity, because when we were braking we were strong enough, but every race has its own history and we must always be able to better interpret the tires. "