Victorious Dovizioso says he had no point to prove in Spielberg

Andrea Dovizioso insisted he was not out to prove a point by winning a dramatic Austrian Grand Prix just a day after it was announced he would leave Ducati.

Speculation over Dovizioso's future was ended on Saturday when it was confirmed he would be on his way out of a team he joined in 2013 at the end of the MotoGP™ season.

Dovizioso showed Ducati what they will be missing by claiming his first victory of the season and his third in the last four years at a Red Bull Ring circuit where the Bologna factory have won five in a row.

The Italian says confirmation that he will be moving on did not give him extra fuel to get back on the top step of the podium and move just 11 points behind championship leader Fabio Quartararo.

He said: "That performance didn't come after that decision [to move on].

"We already showed in the past how strong we are at this track so I'm more impressed with the improvement from Brno as this was our focus and we did it.

"For sure the track helped us but we really studied a lot and approached practice in a different way, this was the reason why I'm here [talking as the race winner]."

Dovizioso's win came after the race was stopped nine laps in due to one of the most horrific crashes ever seen in the premier class.

Franco Morbidelli and Johann Zarco incredibly avoided serious injury after they tangled at Turn 3 and Valentino Rossi was almost struck by one of the two bikes that flashed across the track at high speed.

Alex Rins then spun out from the front halfway through a 20-lap race following the restart and Dovizioso capitalised to win ahead of Joan Mir, who passed Jack Miller on the final corner.

Dovizioso added: "When they put out the red flag the feeling was good.

"I put myself in a good position, but I expected after the restart for Pol [Espargaro, who crashed out after being in the lead] to be a bit stronger, and I didn't expect Rins to be so strong as in the first part he wasn't that good, but ahead of the race I expected Rins so in the second part this became the reality.

"I think if Rins hadn't crashed it would have been very difficult to beat him because I was struggling a little bit but in some braking zones I was so good and I was able to make a gap."