At the start of 2017, the spotlight shone on Jorge Lorenzo at Ducati, but much less on his teammate Andrea Dovizioso, who narrowly escaped with the Reds when he was to be sidelined in favor of Andrea Iannone, before The Maniac attempted the banzaï and caused the two official Desmosedici to fall in the last corner of the 2016 Argentine GP while they were virtually on the podium.
To say that Dovi was considered the Messiah would be clearly an exaggeration, especially since arriving in Qatar for the first race of 2017, he had only 2 MotoGP victories to his credit in 160 races, compared to 44 in Lorenzo for 156 departures.
Then Dovizioso won at Mugello, Barcelona, Austria, Silverstone, Motegi and Sepang. Victorious Italian on a transalpine motorcycle, he could have gotten a big head. This was not the case, and Dovi received support he did not expect.
“I feel this support and I am proud of it, he told Neil Morrison of crash.net. I'm so happy with it. I am very happy with this situation.
“I'm the type of guy who tries to have good relationships with everyone. I am a relaxed person and I really like to have a good relationship with people, especially drivers. It sure helps. »
“But I believe that now in this world – not just in this racing world – but in the world in general, everyone is trying to be the best and the nicest, and the man who takes the most money and has the best car… I mean it's the style that almost everyone tries to follow. »
“I'm not like this to be able to fight with the best riders in the world in a completely normal way. I live a normal life although I am lucky to have money and to race MotoGP. I have a different goal, another purpose in my life. »
“I think people like it. It looks like other people can fight for the world title, and that's true. So maybe that's the reason. And also because of the great fights this season “, he declared, referring to the duels of the last round with Marquez in Austria and Japan.
“From Mugello until now, things have changed. Everything changes a lot. But it's very positive for me because I just take what I want from it. »
“As I said before, I'm a normal person and I want to keep the same style. So now I have the chance to do different things but I don't need it, I don't need different things. I'm just proud that I made the results and that's it. »
“I'm just happier because people like me more. It's nice to feel it because I don't do it in a "fashion" way. I do it in a normal way. And that means it's even nicer."
Photos © Ducati
Source: crash.net
