Despite a difficult race at Phillip Island, where his delay over Marc Marquez in the provisional World Championship standings was multiplied by three, going from 11 points to 33, Dovi remains hopeful and does not admit defeat. He knows that anything can happen and that destiny can be favorable to him, so he will do everything this weekend to win on a terrain that will be much more favorable to him than Australia.
If the Ducati team ate its black bread among the kangaroos, on the other hand the Desmosedici won four times at Sepang thanks to Loris Capirossi, Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso, who took his second MotoGP victory and first for Ducati in Malaysia last year.
The drivers have already come to take part in three days of testing at the start of the year, on January 30 and 31 as well as February 1, on this circuit bordering Kuala Lumpur airport (and built at the same time). On this occasion, Andrea Dovizioso achieved the fourth time, 0.185 behind the best time of Maverick Vinales, who preceded over these three days Andrea Iannone and Marc Marquez. The Spanish Honda rider was then ahead of the Italian Ducati rider by 0.047.
The crushing defeat of the Reds at Phillip Island has of course given a gloomy image of their overall performance, but we must not forget the five victories of Dovi obtained this year at Mugello, in Catalonia, in Austria, at Silverstone and in Motegi.
Andrea's best result at Sepang was second place in the 125 class in 2004, on a Team Scot Honda, behind Casey Stoner on a Red Bull KTM. His best place in 250 was second in 2006, on a Honda from the Humangest Racing Team behind Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia). In 8 attempts in MotoGP, he won last year on Ducati and finished second in 2010, then on an official Repsol Honda, behind Valentino Rossi.
To Andrea Dovizioso, « Unfortunately I lost a lot of points at Phillip Island and now my chance of winning the title seems to be in jeopardy. But I always think positively and we are here in Malaysia on a very difficult circuit, with the heat, where I won last year and where anything can happen. »
“If Marquez continues to be as fast as in the last two races it will be a difficult task, but at the moment we just have to try to bring home the best possible result and we will do everything to achieve that. »
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 MARQUEZ Marc SPA 269 points
2 DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA 236
3 VIÑALES Maverick SPA 219
4 ROSSI Valentino ITA 188
5 PEDROSA Dani SPA 174
6 ZARCO Johann FRA 138
7 LORENZO Jorge SPA 117
8 PETRUCCI Danilo ITA 111
9 CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR 103
10 FOLGER Jonas GER 84
11 BAUTISTA Alvaro SPA 70
12 MILLER Jack AUS 65
13 ESPARGARO Aleix SPA 62
14 REDDING Scott GBR 61
15 IANNONE Andrea ITA 60
16 ESPARGARO Pol SPA 49
17 RINS Alex SPA 46
18 BAZ Loris FRA 45
19 ABRAHAM Karel CZE 30
20 RABAT Tito SPA 29
21 BARBERA Hector SPA 25
22 SMITH Bradley GBR 20
23 PIRRO Michele ITA 18
24 KALLIO Mika END 11
25 LOWES Sam GBR 5
26 NAKASUGA Katsuyuki JPN 4
27 GUINTOLI Sylvain FRA 1
28 TSUDA Takuya JPN 0
Classification by manufacturers:
1 HONDA 319 points
2 YAMAHA 285
3 DUCATI 278
4 SUZUKI 87
5 APRILIA 64
6 KTM 58
Team ranking:
1 REPSOL HONDA TEAM 443 points
2 MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP 407
3 DUCATI TEAM 353
4 MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 222
5 OCTO PRAMAC RACING 172
6 TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR 107
7 LCR HONDA 103
8 PULL&BEAR ASPAR TEAM 100
9 EG 0,0 MARC VDS 94
10 REALE AVINTIA RACING 70
11 RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 69
12 APRILIA RACING TEAM GRESINI 67
Photo © Ducati
