Dovizioso recognizes it, the 2020 season was special, with a new format imposed by a pandemic while its appearance was marked by the withdrawal of captain Marc Marquez. From there, power was up for grabs and it was Joan Mir, a 23-year-old Majorcan, official rider of a Suzuki factory celebrating its centenary who took the trophy. An original episode dictated by unique circumstances that we will never experience again? Andrea Dovizioso, now retired from business, answers in the negative.
Some have claimed that without Marc Marquez this 2020 championship did not have the same value and others did not hesitate to say that being crowned in the absence of the same Marquez would have been embarrassing. What do all of these have in common? They are the losers of 2020.
Bad losers? We can't really say, but there is a good winner and his name is Joan mir. The one who finished fourth in this championship analyzes what happened this year in a more objective way. His name is Andrea Dovizioso, and he says, in words that remind us speedweek : " it was a pretty unpredictable year in many ways. But to be honest, I don't attribute Joan Mir's success to this particular season. Yes, it may have had a small impact. But for me, this is not the explanation of this result ».
The former official Ducati carries out its own evaluation as follows: “ Joan Mir has already shown that he has a special talent, starting in Moto3. Then in Moto2, even if he didn't win there. Then he was quickly promoted to MotoGP. He's one of those people who has something different ". Dovi, who has won 15 Grands Prix in MotoGP, continues: “ of course, a lot of things have to come together to achieve these results ».
Dovizioso: “Mir proved to be the talent we already knew”
He highlights two aspects in particular: “ first, Mir proved himself to be the talent many believed he was or some already knew he was and he won the championship. Secondly, Suzuki showed that you can win a title by working on certain basics that may seem 'mundane'. But by working well on certain things, you don't have anything special to offer. So you can be consistent and competitive, because both Suzuki riders have done it all year ».
A tribute to the pragmatic approach of Suzuki which could seem like a veiled criticism of Ducati, which in recent seasons has rather opted to play the card of innovation and audacity: “ I won't go into details » adds cautiously Dovizioso, who are " but it's actually quite clear: if you look a little at how the different motorcycles work, then in my opinion the Suzuki is the simplest motorcycle, overall ».
And it was the one that was used by the completely legitimate World Champion, playing within a team with only two motorcycles and a budget much less than that of Honda, Ducati and Yamaha to achieve its ends.
