Dovizioso claims first 2020 win in crash-filled Austrian GP

Andrea Dovizioso survived a chaotic Austrian GP to fly to a first 2020 MotoGP victory in a race interrupted by a lengthy red flag period.

Dovizioso struggled to keep up with an inspired Pol Espargaro-who had moved his way up from fifth to wrangle the lead away just a few laps in- in the early stages of the original start after making a rapid getaway from fourth on the grid, but was given a lifeline as a result of a stoppage due to an incident on lap eight.

The red flags were shown following a terrifying crash between Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli that saw their respective machines fly through the air and across the track at Turn 3, narrowly avoiding the factory Yamaha’s of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi.

Both men were able to walk away from the crash, while Vinales and Rossi were able to take the restart after just being missed by the out-of-control bikes with inches to spare.

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The race distance was therefore reduced to 20 laps for the restart, with Espargaro on effective pole ahead of Dovizioso and Jack Miller.

Espargaro held the lead early on as the race restarted, but quickly came under pressure from Jack Miller-the Aussie snatching the lead away at Turn 4 on the opening circulation.

He was then able to extend his advantage to over a second while Dovizioso worked on relegating Espargaro to second, the KTM man slipping to fourth shortly after at the behest of Alex Rins’ Suzuki.

Miller looked to have Dovizioso in his pocket as the race continued, but the Italian eventually to began to close in while under pressure from the rapid Alex Rins behind.

Dovizioso then passed Miller at the mid-point of the contest into Turn 1, Rins following through shortly after and quickly getting himself onto the rear tyre of the leading Ducati.

The Spaniard then saw his chance and dived for the lead at Turn 5, but disaster struck as the front of his GSX-RR tucked beneath him-sending him sliding away into the gravel trap and early retirement.

Dovizioso had a relatively quiet rest of the encounter following Rins’ downfall as Miller dropped back while defending from the second Suzuki of Joan Mir.

Miller looked to have had second under lock and key with just a handful of corners to go, but the Pramac racer ran wide while trying to defend the position-allowing Mir to slide up the inside and bag his first ever premier class podium finish in second.

Dovizioso crossed the line 1.3 seconds clear of Mir and Miller, while Brad Binder recovered well from his difficult qualifying to secure fourth from 17^th on the grid.

Valentino Rossi shrugged off his close shave from the original restart to take fifth as the highest Yamaha rider, heading LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami.

Danilo Petrucci struggled for speed during the contest but brought home solid points for Ducati in seventh ahead of championship leader Fabio Quartararo, while Iker Lecuona scored his best ever MotoGP result in ninth.

Completing the top ten was Maverick Vinales, who was forced to make do with a likely slipping clutch on the restart which saw him drop from the top five to 20^th-forcing him to recover across the rest of the race.

Michele Pirro did well to score points in his first ’20 start for Pramac in 12^th, while Alex Marquez took 14^th as the first factory Honda machine home.

Pol Espargaro saw a potential first victory go up in smoke after colliding with Tech 3 KTM’s Miguel Oliveira while battling for fifth mid-way through the restarted encounter.

Espargaro ran wide at Turn 4 and attempted to close back down to a late apex, but then came together with an unsighted Oliveira-causing the pair to go down and retire as a result in a fashion similar to Espargaro’s controversial incident with Zarco in last week’s Czech GP.  

Quartararo will head into next weekend’s Styrian GP at the same Red Bull Ring venue still at the head of the MotoGP riders standings, albeit by a reduced 11 point margin over Dovizioso-the Ducati ace moving up to second from fourth with Vinales dropping to third, now just seven clear of Binder.