MotoGP Valencia J3: Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati/4) at the foot of the podium, without the team title

This last Grand Prix of the year will not remain a lasting memory for “Desmo Dovi” who was dispossessed from the podium by another Ducati, that of Jack Miller who finished less than a second in front of him and joined Marc Márquez and Fabio Quartararo among the leading trio.

If the race of the leader of the Ducati team was not really successful, that of his team in general went badly. The Ducati Team was two points ahead of Repsol Honda in the team standings before this last race of the season, but the unfortunate fall of Danilo Petrucci (immediately followed by those of Johann zarco and Iker Lecuona) allowed the Japanese to get ahead of the Italians: Marc Márquez winner scored significantly more points than fourth-placed Andrea Dovizioso, and even Jorge Lorenzo got into the points by finally finishing thirteenth, after benefiting from the retirement of seven drivers who were previously in front of him. Honda thus captured the Triple Crown, after the drivers' title and that awarded to the manufacturers.

Dovi's weekend got off to a difficult start, with the ninth fastest time in FP1 in 1'32.132, 0.677 behind. fabio quartararo. The second free practice session was more or less equal and he finished the first day ninth in 1'31.351, 0.616 behind El Diablo. The third session was more or less the same level, with at the end of free practice the eighth time in 1'30.851 to 0.619 from Fabio. The important thing was to be among the top ten, qualifying directly for Q2.

In qualifying, Andrea set the sixth time in 1'30.511, 0.533 behind Quartararo's pole position, but still second Ducati rider behind Jack Miller who had dominated him since Friday morning.

In the race, Dovi got off to an excellent start which allowed him to complete the first lap in fourth position ahead of Marc Marquez. He was quickly overtaken by Marc, but immediately passed Álex Rins and recovered fourth place.

Video: Fight between Marc Márquez, Álex Rins and Andrea Dovizioso

At the front, Márquez took the lead from Quartararo, and the two men were closely followed by the two Ducatis of Miller and Dovizioso. This was the classification in the fifth round, which will never change again until the finish, despite small gaps. Dovi will indeed finish third, 3.326 behind Marquez, sandwiched between Jack Miller and Álex Rins.

As for the team title, all hope vanished halfway through the race:

Video: Petrucci falls, team title lost

Dovizioso therefore finished his season very honourably, in second position in the Championship behind Marc Márquez. Andrea won two Grands Prix this year, in Qatar and Austria. He also reached the podium in Argentina, France, Mugello, Brno, Aragon, Japan and Malaysia. It's a very eloquent track record, even if the Italian would have liked to threaten Marc Márquez more often, and fight with him until the end for the title.

According to Andrea Dovizioso, “Overall, I am satisfied with our speed in the race: our pace was very consistent and the gap to Márquez was not very big. »

“I tried to catch Miller for third place, but he was riding really well and was faster than me a few times, so he deserved the podium. »

“I am happy with the way we finished the season, because in Sepang and here in Valencia we were fast. We confirmed a solid second place, unfortunately with a very big gap to Marquez in the standings, but also with a significant gap to third, despite two zeros at Barcelona and Silverstone which were not our fault. »

« If we look at Marc, we cannot be satisfied with our season. But we can't just see it either. »

“We have to look at our season in a different way. The goal was different: to fight for the World Championship and win the title. We didn't achieve it, so we can't be happy, but we also have areas to improve even more than we have so far. »

“But we also have to be realistic. Because this season, the mix of Marc and Honda did something crazy: they set a points record and won every title. »

“I'm disappointed that we didn't win the team classification, but only because I said before the season that Danilo and I would be the strongest team.”

“I think that’s what happened. Unfortunately, Marc did everything alone. He was too strong for everyone because on a bad day he finished second – just a few tenths of a second behind. He had a different speed. »

Grand Prix results:

1	93	Marc MÁRQUEZ	Honda	41'21.469
2	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	Yamaha	+1.026
3	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	+2.409
4	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	+3.326
5	42	Alex RINS	Suzuki	+3.508
6	12	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	+8.829
7	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	+10.622
8	46	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	+22.992
9	41	Aleix ESPARGARÓ	Aprilia	+32.704
10	44	Pol ESPARGARÓ	KTM	+32.973
11	53	Tito RABAT	Ducati	+42.795
12	82	Mika Kallio	KTM	+45.732
13	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	+51.044
14	17	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	+ 1'04.871
15	55	Hafiz Syahrin	KTM	+ 1'16.487
		Not Classified
	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	1 laps
	21	Frank MORBIDELLI	Yamaha	9 lapses
	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	14 lapses
	5	johann zarco	Honda	14 lapses
	27	Iker LECUONA	KTM	14 lapses
	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	17 lapses
	51	Michael PIRRO	Ducati	19 lapses

Final ranking of the World Championship:

1	Marc MÁRQUEZ	Honda	SPA	420
2	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	ITA	269
3	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	211
4	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	205
5	Fabio QUARTARARO	Yamaha	FRA	192
6	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	176
7	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	174
8	Jack Miller	Ducati	AUS	165
9	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	GBR	133
10	Frank MORBIDELLI	Yamaha	ITA	115
11	Pol ESPARGARÓ	KTM	SPA	100
12	Joan Mir	Suzuki	SPA	92
13	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	JPN	74
14	Aleix ESPARGARÓ	Aprilia	SPA	63
15	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	ITA	54
16	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	ITA	43
17	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	33
18	johann zarco	Honda	FRA	30
19	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	SPA	28
20	Tito RABAT	Ducati	SPA	23
21	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER	16
22	Michael PIRRO	Ducati	ITA	9
23	Hafiz Syahrin	KTM	MAL	9
24	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE	9
25	Sylvain GUINTOLI	Suzuki	FRA	7
26	Mika Kallio	KTM	END	7
27	Bradley SMITH	Aprilia	GBR
28	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA

World Constructors' Championship:

1. Honda 426.
2. Yamaha 321.
3. 3. Ducati 318.
4. 4.Suzuki 234.
5. 5. KTM 111.
6. 6.Aprilia 88.

World Team Championship:

1. Repsol Honda Team 458.
2. Ducati Team 445.
3. Monster Energy Yamaha 385.
4. Petronas Yamaha SRT 307.
5. Team Suzuki Ecstar 301.
6. Pramac Racing 219.
7. LCR Honda 210.
8. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 134.
9. Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 106.
10. Red Bull KTM Tech3 42.
11. Reale Avintia Racing 32.

Photos © Ducati