Austria MotoGP: Dovizioso defeats Marquez in exhilarating duel

Andrea Dovizioso scored his and Ducati's third win of the MotoGP season at the Red Bull Ring, seeing off Honda's Marc Marquez in an exhilarating duel that went down to the final corner.

The pair emerged as class of the field after a frantic opening to the Austrian Grand Prix and fought it out for victory, Dovizioso prevailing by 0.176s despite a desperate last-corner lunge by his rival.

Marquez had maintained the lead from pole position at the start, but the reigning champion had no answer to the straightline speed of Jorge Lorenzo's Ducati.

The Spaniard cleared teammate Dovizioso at Turn 1 and passed Marquez on the next straight, assuming control of the race.

As Marquez fought off Dovizioso over the opening lap, Lorenzo escaped to the tune of a second, but when the order stabilised, he was soon reeled in by the Honda man.

On the eighth lap, Marquez was close enough to look at retaking the lead, but as he ran wide in Lorenzo's wheeltracks into Turn 3, Dovizioso relegated him to third.

However, that was only a temporary setback, as Marquez was soon back into second and all over Lorenzo, forcing the Spaniard to go wide at the same corner.

Dovizioso then made it three-wide for the lead on the following straight and was even ahead at Turn 4, but ran wide, handing first place back to Marquez.

Lorenzo's pace began to fade from that point onwards, yet Dovizioso managed to stick within a couple of tenths of Marquez and coasted past again when the reigning champion erred at Turn 3 on lap 18 of 28.

Marquez retook the spot shortly thereafter at Turn 7, but again couldn't shake Dovizioso – who slipstreamed past on the main straight with seven laps to go.

On that lap, they traded places several times, Marquez not managing to make a move stick and easing the pressure on the Ducati for a few laps afterwards.

With Dovizioso repeatedly blocking off Marquez's favoured overtaking spot – Turn 7 – in the final minutes, their battle came down to the very last corner of the last lap.

Marquez lunged down the inside of the Italian, with both forced wide but Dovizioso getting a better exit to hang on to victory.

The podium was completed by Marquez's teammate Dani Pedrosa, who had fought his way through the pack, picking off the Yamaha's Valentino Rossi and Johann Zarco in one move and then finding his way past Lorenzo.

The Marquez–Dovizioso duel allowed Pedrosa to close right up to the pair, but he was unable to keep their pace and finished 2.485 seconds off.

Lorenzo held on to fourth from Tech 3's Zarco and the Yamaha works pair of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi, who both had costly off-track excursions at Turn 1.

Alvaro Bautista was a lonely eighth for Aspar Ducati, with Avintia Ducati's Loris Baz ninth.

KTM wildcard Mika Kallio was a standout performer, beating Suzuki's Andrea Iannone to 10th and very nearly passing Baz as well.

The other KTMs did not pick up any points, with Pol Espargaro ruled out early after a startline collision with LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow – who had been baulked by Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci.

Petrucci was also among the retirements, he and Tech 3 Yamaha's Jonas Folger calling it a day in the pits, while Marc VDS Honda's Jack Miller crashed out at Turn 9.