Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo made a stunning return to form today, taking third in the NeroGiardini Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich at the Red Bull Ring - Spielberg circuit. Valentino Rossi was also setting an impressive pace as he followed his teammate for most of the race and claimed valuable points with a fourth place finish.

Starting from fourth on the grid, Lorenzo catapulted from the line but was clipped by Marc Marquez going turn one, but despite being pushed wide the Mallorcan made a quick dash to the front and joined the front fight between Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone and skillfully put his YZR-M1 in second place behind the latter. The Factory Yamaha rider was eager to hit the front, making multiple overtaking manoeuvres but it wasn't to last and he had to let Dovizioso past.

With a small margin forming between him and the front two riders and Rossi tapping on the back of his YZR-M1, Lorenzo responded by setting his best personal lap of the race thus far with 14 laps remaining, and soon the blue bikes were back in contention for the win. A brief state of grace saw the Yamaha riders running within 0.8s of the race leaders, but towards the end the Michelin tyres dropped, affecting the pace. Unable to challenge the front riders, the current World Champion decided to focus on defending his podium position and brought his bike over the line in third place, 3.389s from first.

Rossi lost a place at the start of the 28-lap race from second on the grid, but was soon moving to re-overtake Dovizioso in turn 6 and fought with Iannone at the end of the lap to lead over the line. What followed was a flurry of activity with Lorenzo joining the fight. The Doctor ran wide on turn 1 with 25 laps to go and dropped to fifth behind Marquez, but it didn't take him long to move up to fourth place when he set a provisional fastest lap, being the first rider to clock a 1'24s, two laps later.

Back behind his teammate, the Italian made his experience count and bided his time, sticking close to his teammate's YZR-M1. The two Yamahas were charging to the front two-thirds into the race and piled on the pressure, but as the tyres started to wear they were forced to slightly ease off their pace. Unable to make a move on Lorenzo, the nine-time World Champion decided to harvest some valuable points for the championship, finishing in fourth place 3.815s from the front.

The third place finish keeps Lorenzo in second place in the standings on 138 points, 43 points from first, whilst Rossi remains in third position with 124 points.


Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director

"It has been a positive race, especially if you consider the challenging start we had on Friday. The team has done a great job, though it is a shame our strong pace couldn't be rewarded by having two riders on the podium after such a strong ride by both of them. Jorge took a good podium result with Valentino not far behind and we finished in front of Marquez with both riders so we made up some important points for the championship. We are looking forward to the next race in Brno in one week's time where we always have been strong."

Jorge Lorenzo - 3rd / +3.389 / 28 laps, 2nd / 138 points

"Honestly, when you have one or two challenging races like me, finishing in third place is not the same as a victory, but it almost feels the same because our rivals were almost in another world during the test and throughout the weekend, in qualifying and also the second part of the race. To finally finish in third place just three seconds from the winner is a great result and we are very satisfied with the work we did on the bike and the concentration I kept during the race with the rear tyre moving a lot in the last part. I'm very happy and we should keep working, we recovered some points to Marc and it's important for the championship. Anything can happen, like we saw yesterday. Marc crashed and almost got seriously injured. We need to stay focused and have some luck and wait."

Valentino Rossi - 4th / +3.815 / 28 laps, 3rd / 124 points

"In the end it was a good race because the margin to our rivals in front was not very big. It was a shame that I wasn't able to fight with Lorenzo. I wanted to try and arrive on the podium, but in the end I wasn't able to do so and for sure I'm not happy about this, but for the rest it was a good weekend. We were quite competitive at this track, which is not fantastic for Yamaha, and we took some points. Our rhythm in the race was very similar to those who took the victory and we will try to be stronger next week in Brno. For me, personally, Brno is a great track where I won for the first time, but the last few years I wasn't strong enough so I'm very curious to understand if this year I can be more competitive. About today's frontrunners, I think they will also be very strong in Brno because they are always fast and the track also has a lot of straights and it's so fast, so I think we have to keep an eye on them."