Recent winner of the Malaysian Grand Prix, Dovi of course does not want to stop there and a second consecutive victory would not displease him. It would also be a brilliant success for Ducati who have been weaned from first places in Valencia since the exploits of Troy Bayliss in 2006, then Casey Stoner in 2008.
Aged 30, the native of forlimpopoli will compete in Spain this weekend for his 258e Grand Prix, which will succeed 159 in MotoGP, 49 in 250 and 49 in 125. His first GP was in 2001 as a wild card at Mugello, on a April 125st of the RCGM Rubicone Corse. For his third full season in 125, he won in South Africa, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and Australia, which earned him the title of 2004 World Champion. He was then driving a Kopron Team Scot Honda which also allowed him to finish second in Valencia, our topic of the day. To be complete, that year he finished 13 times on the podium in 16 races. He finished the season with a 91-point lead (!) over someone named Hector Barbera. Some Jorge Lorenzo finished 4e and a young Australian named Casey finished 5e.
In his career, Dovi achieved 16 pole positions (3 in MotoGP, 4 in 250 and 9 in 125), including the first in 2003 at Le Mans in 125. He raced in MotoGP from 2008 to 2011 on Honda (the first year at JiR, then the other three within the official team), in 2012 on a team Yamaha Tech 3, and since 2013 at Ducati.
Until Sepang he had only won one Grand Prix in MotoGP, Donington in 2009, before Colin Edwards et Randy de Puniet. Dovizioso is still hovering a little on his cloud after his great first place in Malaysia. “ It was a very special feeling for me to win at Sepang, he believes, because it was important to win a race this season. Now I can go to Valencia with that out of my mind and fully aware of my worth.”
In Valencia, his best result in MotoGP was third place in 2011 behind Casey Stoner, and Ben Spies.
The top 5 in the final 2016 ranking is still possible for Andrea. “ My goal was to come fifth in the championship and I have a chance to do it, but above all I am happy with the improvements made this year to the bike by the team, and on a personal level, so now I will do everything to finish the championship in the best possible way in Spain ».
