Five times World Champion in the 500 category, Doohan was at Sepang for the last Malaysian Grand Prix. It is not certain that there were team instructions at Ducati, or more precisely that they were applied.
“It's difficult to say whether Ducati put Dovizioso through by telling Lorenzo to abandon his position, explained the Australian to gpone.com. If so, it was definitely to keep the World Championship open. Either way, Dovizioso had the speed and pace to stay in front, so who knows... In Formula 1, team orders are forbidden but not here. At least, not yet (laughs).
“At Honda we had no team orders in 1991 and 1992, neither in Malaysia nor in South Africa, and Gardner did not help me in my fight against Wayne Rainey. And Criville? He didn't care about the team instructions, because he always attacked me, until the last corner.
“The races are the races, and the beautiful thing is that the championship is always open. Realistically speaking, it will be difficult for Dovizioso to be ahead of Márquez and win the championship. This could only happen if there were technical issues for Marc's Honda or other problems, but the math gives the Ducati team hope, while still saving interest in Valencia.
“I didn't expect to see such a competitive Ducati. No, honestly, last year they showed the first important and promising improvements, winning a few races. It seemed that over the years, with Stoner and especially with Rossi in the team, Ducati had lost its strength, but now they have taken the right direction despite starting without fins on the Desmosedici GP. Now the bike is competitive and seeing Ducati, Aprilia and KTM fighting against the Japanese houses is great for the show and for the championship.
“Zarco is doing an incredible job. He is a rookie in MotoGP and seems to prefer the 1 M2016 to the 2017 factory that Rossi uses. Perhaps Yamaha lost the right trajectory, but Johann went far beyond all expectations. »
Photo © motogp.com / Dorna
Source: Mirko Colombi for gpone.com
