MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 10 / AUGUST 10-12, 2018
RED BULL RING / SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA
P70
beat Marc it is always special, when you have to fight with
a monster like him to the last lap."
Marquez had equally enjoyed the race. "We lost the
battle, but we increased our lead," he said, now 49
points clear of Valentino Rossi, whose Movistar Yamaha
was a distant but still impressive sixth today.
Dovi in third couldn't hide his disappointment. He'd
been held up in the early laps behind Lorenzo, and was
forced to change his usual riding style. He thought this
might have caused his later tire drop off, "though you can
never know," he said. "But the good thing [is] if you make
a mistake [with tire choice] you can learn from it for next
time."
Unusually, the top three were all using different tires:
Lorenzo soft front and rear, Marquez medium front/hard
rear and Dovi medium at both ends. This dictated Loren-
zo's early caution, and an aggressive start for Marquez,
though as the latter explained later: "When the tires drop,
the differences are on the straights."
BAUTISTA TO WORLDSBK?
Displaced MotoGP rider Alvaro Bautista
has been unable to find a ride, in spite of
coming into a strong run of form on the
Angel Nieto Ducati—but his career might
yet be rescued by the Ducati factory with
a superbike ride. The Aspar-owned Nieto
team is pulling out of MotoGP next year.
In Austria, Ducati sporting director Paolo
Ciabatti confirmed that Bautista is being
considered for the factory team in SBK,
alongside Chaz Davies, who has already
been re-signed. Should it come to pass,
it would be at the expense of current
second team rider Marco Melandri.
Briefly...
Early in the running
Marquez (93) began to
stretch the field.
