When Dovi left Misano a month ago tied on points with Marquez at the top of the World Championship, he was at his zenith. Perhaps even a little too much, as people like Mick Doohan pointed out, for whom the Spaniard was clearly stronger than the Italian.
Marquez's victory two weeks later in Aragon seemed to prove them right, especially as the leader of the Ducati team collapsed to seventh position, notably beaten by Alex Espargaro and his Aprilia, which was not part of the Bolognese scenario.
The only one who had no doubts then was Dovizioso, for the simple reason that he would never have imagined himself leading the World Championship after 13 Grands Prix, and that he had also noticed that Marquez could experience bad days. , due to a fall or a broken engine.
Arriving in Japan, Dovizioso set the fifth fastest time in the first free practice session in 1'56.6, 1.2 behind Marquez, between his teammate Jorge Lorenzo et Johann zarco. In the second session, if the leader of the Repsol Honda team went from 1'55.4 to 1'54.9, on the other hand the man from Forlimpopoli went down from 1'56.6 to 1'54.8. The gap between the two men at the end of this first day was 0.043, in favor of the Transalpine. If it rains on Sunday during the Grand Prix, the fight between the top two in the Championship could be exciting.
For Andrea Dovizioso, “It was really good because we didn't expect to be competitive in the wet. On the last two titles where we rode in the wet, I didn't feel as good.
“Today, from the first outing, I felt really good: the grip is good at the rear and that's very important for us, so we had a good feeling from the start. We took a small step from the afternoon and my time was pretty fast, but I'm happier with how I went around, not the fastest lap as we went around at the start of the session, when normally we don't have much rhythm.
“I'm happy, but now we have to work on the details for the wet because the wear on the rear tire is quite high for everyone – 24 laps is a very long time. The speed is there, so we have a chance to work in another area to try to save the tire.
“This morning we had a lot of water and aquaplaning in many places, but the grip is really good, especially at the rear. This is because it's not too cold, so the tire works very well – the grip is certainly much better than in Misano. »
Nothing like a quick spike of adrenaline to wake you up in the morning😅
Easy does it @AndreaDovizioso #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/PN1s3i9nHE
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) October 13, 2017
Ranking :
- Andrea Dovizioso-Ducati Team (GP17) 1'54.877
- Marc Marquez-Repsol Honda (RC213V) 1'54.920 +0.043
- Aleix Espargaro-Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1'55.061 +0.184
- Jorge Lorenzo-Ducati Team (GP17) 1'55.234 +0.357
- Johann Zarco-Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1) 1'55.468 +0.591
- Danilo Petrucci-Octo Pramac (GP17) 1'55.541 +0.664
- Andrea Iannone-Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1'55.614 +0.737
- Dani Pedrosa-Repsol Honda (RC213V) 1'55.773 +0.896
- Cal Crutchlow-LCR Honda (RC213V) 1'56.149 +1.272
- Alex Rins-Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1'56.229 +1.352
- Maverick Viñales-Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1'56.376 +1.499
- Valentino Rossi-Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1'56.435 +1.558
- Kohta Nozane-Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1) 1'56.453 +1.576
- Scott Redding-Octo Pramac (GP16) 1'56.680 +1.803
- Karel Abraham-Pull&Bear Aspar (GP15) 1'56.776 +1.899
- Alvaro Bautista-Pull&Bear Aspar (GP16) 1'56.827 +1.950
- Bradley Smith-Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 1'56.853 +1.976
- Pol Espargaro-Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 1'56.872 +1.995
- Sam Lowes-Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1'57.250 +2.373
- Loris Baz-Reale Avintia (GP15) 1'57.259 +2.382
- Hector Barbera-Reale Avintia (GP16) 1'57.540 +2.663
- Hiroshi Aoyama-EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1'57.548 +2.671
- Tito Rabat-EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1'57.645 +2.768
- Katsuyuki Nakasuga-Yamaha Factory (YZR-M1) 1'58.341 +3.464
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 224 points
2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 208
3 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 196
4 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 170
5 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 168
6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 117
7 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 106
8 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 95
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 92
10 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 84
11 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Ducati 70
12 Jack MILLER-Honda 56
13 Scott REDDING-Ducati 56
14 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia 53
15 Loris BAZ-Ducati 39
16 Andrea IANNONE-Suzuki 37
17 Pol ESPARGARO-KTM 37
18 Karel ABRAHAM-Ducati 28
19 Tito RABAT-Honda 28
20 Alex RINS-Suzuki 27
Photos © Ducati
