Jorge Lorenzo has described his Austrian MotoGP triumph as “one of my best victories” of his 17-year grand prix career after coming out on top in an epic last lapᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤🔯⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ showdown with Marc Marquez in Austria.

The 31-year old pointed to two key point🃏s that allowed him to reel Ma🥃rquez in before beating him in a memorable late-race duel.

Firstly, his decision to run Michelin’s soft rear t♚yre was the right one. Then his studying of the circuit’s third sector led to he and his Ducati GP18 thriving through turns six, seven and eight, turns with which he struggleꦑd for the prior days.

“[It] Was a great decision to use the soft rear tyre, but I needed to manage a lot in the first ten laps,” explained Lorenzo after his third win in six races. “I needed to manage a lot not to overheat the tyre because it was very hot. It was very, ver✤y soft in some parts of the tyre.

“But was also key the big improvement I made in the sector three, because yesterday I was losing almost two tenths there compared to Marc and Dovi. Then I made a big improvement in one afternoon. Trying to watch some videos, trying to understand which position of my body I need to change to be fa𓄧ster in that sector. It really, really worked.

Had he been surprised by Marquez’s early race strategy designed to stretch the field apart? “Normally Marc is not a rider who push so much at the beginning, but sometimes he can use this strategy,” said Lorenzo. “Today was one of these races. I kn📖ew already looking at his pace and his lap time during the weekend that he was very strong.

“He was able to be in 24.2, 24.3 for so many laps. Luckily after the Moto2 race the gr💃ip of the tarmac was a little 🌌bit worse, so he couldn’t be in 24.2 for so long, or maybe two tenths slower.

“This permit me to stay there just see him in the front one𝓀 second, 1.2, for some laps when I was not ⛎really comfortable but saving some energy and tyres. Was probably the perfect distance between him to arrive at the end of the race with the good energy and the good tyres to attack.”

Speaking to Marquez in parc fermé after their titanic scrap, Lorenzo exclaimed ‘El primer deulo!’- ‘the first fight!’ – in the direction of his 2019 team-mate, ind💫icating the three-time premier class champion’s belief this showdown will be the first of many in the coming years.

Asked how this ranks alongside the 46 premier class victories he had achieved before Sunday, Lorenzo said, “It’s one of my best victories, but my best victory I don’t know the best one, because luckily I got very beautiful ones in the past, not only in MotoGP but also in other categories. For sure, when you beat Marc i😼t’s special. W🌌hen you win with Ducati it’s special.

“This victory is going to be one of the special ones, apart from the first in Mugello, especially because I had to fight to the end with a monster like Ma﷽rc, fight like Marc till the last lap braking very h🧸ard and take profit of my strong points. So it’s always very difficult.”