With the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix just days away, memories inevitably come flooding back to fans: that of August 2019, at the Red Bull Ring, when Marc Márquez, then with Honda, came close to a first victory on the Styrian circuit. In a race that has become legendary, Andrea Dovizioso had the last word... on the very last corner.
Le press release published by Ducati at the time perfectly summed up the intensity of the moment: "Andrea Dovizioso won a spectacular Austrian Grand Prix with a final-corner overtake on Márquez, after a magnificent duel with the Spanish champion that lasted from the first to the last lap.".
That Sunday, Dovizioso started from the front row, making an excellent start, and took the lead on lap 6, overtaking Fabio Quartararo, then the provisional leader. In his wheel, Márquez, perfectly positioned, gave chase. The two men engaged in a relentless battle.
Until the final lap, the advantage seemed to be slightly tilted in the Catalan's favor. But in the hairpin that concludes the circuit, Dovizioso made the decisive attack and crossed the line with a lead of just 0.213 seconds. He thus deprived Marc Márquez of winning on what was, at the time, the only circuit that Marc Márquez had not yet won.
Everything suggests that the number 93 will have a great opportunity to take revenge this weekend. To do so, he will be equipped with a Ducati. A machine that has won eight times in 10 editions, and which kept him off the top step of the podium several times in Austria, when he was competing for Honda.
Video: The day Marc Marquez almost won in Austria:
Andrea Dovizioso on the top step of the podium 2019 Austrian Grand Prix © Ducati Corse
