1993
In 1993 the Austrian Grand Prix was held at the Salzburgring and was round five of the season that year. Wayne Rainey was looking to win his fourth straight 500cc World Championship, while Kevin Schwantz was still desperate to clinch his first, while Mick Doohan had finished as runner up for the last two seasons. Thing’s couldn’t have been closer as they arrived in Austria. Rainey and Schwantz had two wins apiece to their names from the previous four races, with Rainey holding the slender advantage of four points in the standings. Doohan had not scored a single podium and knew he had to get his title hopes back on track. Sit back and enjoy as these three legends go head to head in a simply incredible race.
1996
The 1996 season saw Mick Doohan continue his domination of the 500cc class that had already seen him lift two consecutive titles. His main challenge that year would come from his teammate Alex Criville, but Doohan was almost unstoppable. The Austrian GP took place that year at the A1 Ring as round ten of the season, with Doohan having won six of the previous nine races. Criville had recorded six podiums, including five in a row leading up to the Austrian GP, but was still looking for his first victory of the season. The two teammates would become involved in an excellent race long battle that saw the victor win the drag to the line by 0.5s.
1997
The 1997 season saw Doohan at the peak of his powers. His domination almost complete as he lifted his fourth consecutive title by winning 12 out of 15 races that year, beating Giacomo Agostini’s record of 11 victories in a single season in the process. At the Austrian GP, Doohan would demonstrate his class by completely blitzing the rest of the field to take the race win by over 22 seconds, with his teammate Alex Criville the only man who get anywhere near his pace although even he would have issues. The real excitement though came in the incredible battle for the podium between Italian Luca Cadalora and the Japanese duo Nobuatsu Aoki and Tadayuka Okada, with just half a second separating the three as they crossed the line.
The 2016 Austrian GP kicks off on Friday the 12th of August with Free Practice.