Jorge Lorenzo scored a splendid victory in the Austrian Grand Prix, round 11 of the MotoGP World Championship, which was held at the Red Bull Ring circuit near Zeltweg in Styria. The rider from Mallorca, who started from the front row of the grid opted to begin the race with ‘soft’ tyres both front and rear. He led over the line at the end of the opening lap but then Marc Marquez passed him. Lorenzo followed the Honda rider until lap 18 together with Andrea Dovizioso.
After taking back the lead of the race on the next lap, Lorenzo battled it out with the Honda rider until the end, crossing the line with an advantage of just 130 thousandths of a second. Thanks to this win, Jorge Lorenzo moves into third place in the Riders’ standings with 130 points, followed by his team-mate Dovizioso (129 points) who finished third. Ducati also took its third successive win at the Red Bull Ring since MotoGP returned to the Austrian circuit (2016 Andrea Iannone, 2017 Dovizioso and 2018 Lorenzo).
Jorge Lorenzo
“It was an incredible race, maybe one of the best of my career, quite simply spectacular! Winning with Ducati on this circuit, where I had never won before, after a close quarters battle with Marquez, has a really special taste. Before the race I had thought about which strategy to use, and I decided to do like Brno, administering the tyre wear well and then attacking in the final part of the race, especially because I was one of the few riders who had chosen ‘soft’ tyres and my riding style allowed me to conserve them until the end.”
“When I found myself fighting against Marquez I knew that it was going to be difficult to pass him, so I decided to improvise by making the best use of the Desmosedici GP’s acceleration and it worked perfectly. Now we’re third in the championship standings, but above all I’m proud and very pleased with the way we’re working because the feeling with the bike is better and better all the time and I believe we can fight for the win in many other races. Now let’s just enjoy this moment with all the team and I’m also very happy for them.”
Show no mercy! @lorenzo99 barges past @marcmarquez93! ?
Was this your favourite #MotulOvertake from the #AustrianGP ??
VOTE NOW: https://t.co/10yVDP0109 pic.twitter.com/PFmdnDQUei
— MotoGP™??? (@MotoGP) August 13, 2018
Andrea Dovizioso
“At the start of the race unfortunately I was never able to get in amongst the battle for first place, because I couldn’t pass Jorge even though at that moment I was quicker than him, but to do that I used up the rear tyre too much, it dropped off a lot ten laps from the end, and this affected my race a bit. From that point onwards, I wasn’t able to do much because I couldn’t link up the corners very well. Pity, because we were pretty good under braking, but every race has its own story and we must always try and interpret the tyres in the best possible way.”
