Iannone ends Ducati win drought in Austria
Andrea Iannone has claimed Ducati's first MotoGP victory since 2010 after holding off team-mate Andrea Dovizioso during a race long battle in Austria.
Ducati had been favourites to win ever since dominating last month's test, but the Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi put up a valiant effort to stay with the Desmosedicis until the closing stages.
Iannone had chosen softer tyres than his rivals and, when he didn't escape, was expected to struggle more than Dovizioso in the final laps.
Instead Iannone retook the lead with seven laps to go and held on to win by 0.938s, with Lorenzo beating Rossi to third by 0.4s.
It is Iannone's first ever victory in the premier-class and the first for Ducati since Casey Stoner (present in Austria) at Phillip Island in 2010. The Italian is leaving Ducati for Suzuki at the end of this season.
Dovizioso, who is staying to partner Lorenzo at Ducati next year, admitted to being very disappointed at missing out on victory having focussed on race pace throughout the weekend.
But the relief was clear for Gigi Dall'Igna, who has revived Ducati's fortunes since his 2014 arrival but - like the rest of the team - had been under mounting pressure to deliver their stated goal of race victory.
Iannone is MotoGP's second new race winner of the season, after Jack Miller at Assen, and first new dry winner since Marc Marquez in 2013.
Apart from Iannone and Dall'Igna, the happiest rider of the day was Lorenzo, who put two poor races behind him with a return to form. The fact that the team he is joining for 2017 finished first and second today probably helped a little as well.
World championship leader Marquez, who dislocated his left shoulder on Saturday morning, and Suzuki's Maverick Vinales completed a six-rider lead group until the halfway stage of the 28 laps.
Although Marquez eventually faded to over 11 seconds from victory, the Repsol Honda star was able to build a safe gap over Vinales for fifth and thus saw his title lead reduce by just five points (to 43) over Lorenzo.
Five riders (Hector Barbera, Stefan Bradl, Alvaro Bautista, Yonny Hernandez and Cal Crutchlow) were given jump start penalties, with Barbera black flagged for failing to serve his ride-through.
The pain in Aleix Espargaro's damaged hand forced him to retire his Suzuki in the closing stages. Aspar's Eugene Laverty was another to be left bitterly disappointed, falling on the final lap after an aggressive battle with Danilo Petrucci. Laverty had been an impressive eighth in the middle stages.
Marc VDS rider Miller was ruled out of the race by back and wrist fractures in morning warm-up.
Austria's return to the MotoGP calendar for the first time since 1997 was watched by a sell-out 95,000 fans, who will have home manufacturer KTM to cheer on next season. Mika Kallio and Alex Hofmann completed demo laps on the RC16 just before today's race.
The Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno takes place next weekend.
Austrian MotoGP:1.Andrea Iannone2.Andrea Dovizioso3.Jorge Lorenzo4.Valentino Rossi5.Marc Marquez6.Maverick Vi?ales7.Dani Pedrosa8.Scott Redding9.Bradley Smith10.Pol Espargaro11.Danilo Petrucci12.Michele Pirro13.Loris Baz14.Tito Rabat15.Cal Crutchlow16.Alvaro Bautista17.Yonny Hernandez18.Eugene Laverty19.Stefan Bradl
Aleix Espargaro
Hector Barbera
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
