Andrea Dovizioso defeated Marc Marquez in a thrilling MotoGP encounter at the Red Bull Ring as the Italian snatched the lead at the final corner to bag Ducati’s fourth successive Austria win.
The duo were never separated by more than a few bike lengths throughout the 28-lap contest as they pulled away from the rest of the field, swapping the lead several times during the race.
The pair ran wide at Turn 3 on the first lap as Marquez out-braked himself while defending from the Ducati, dropping back to fourth and fifth as a result, but quickly fought back through to the leading positions.
Dovizioso pounced with just nine laps remaining to take the lead, but was unable to stretch his advantage over the Spaniard, allowing him to move back ahead of the Ducati with just a few tours remaining.
Dovizioso tried to dive past Marquez into Turn 1 for the final time but ran wide, allowing Marquez to shoot back past. It looked as if the championship leader had done enough to secure his first Austrian win, but Dovizioso closed onto the back of his RC213-V through Turn 9.
He then dived up the inside of Marquez with a perfectly-judged move and held on to the line to take his first victory since the season opener in Qatar.
Marquez was forced to settle for a close second as a result, while Fabio Quartararo had a relatively quiet race to notch up yet another rostrum in his rookie campaign with the Petronas SRT squad.
The Frenchman took the lead early on as the leading pair ran wide, but was quickly reeled back in and passed as the Yamaha’s severe straight-line deficit was exposed.
Factory Yamaha men Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales were unable to keep up with their satellite counterpart and closed out the top five positions, the pair crossing the line just in front of Alex Rins’ Suzuki.
Francesco Bagnaia secured seventh as the lone Pramac that finished the race, while Miguel Oliveira displayed a stunning ride as he achieved his best ever MotoGP result in eighth for the Tech 3 KTM team.
Danilo Petrucci had a disappointing race to finish down in ninth over 17 seconds behind his race winning team-mate, while Franco Morbidelli brought the second SRT M1 home in tenth.
Jack Miller looked set to fight for a second successive podium early on, but would later crash out when he tucked the front of his Ducati GP19 at Turn 9 while battling Rossi for fourth.
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