During this post-race conference of the San Marino Grand Prix which also brought together Marc Marquez (see here) and Danilo Petrucci (see here), Andrea Dovizioso answered various questions from journalists after having had to settle for 3rd place, which allowed the Honda driver to return to equal points in the championship.
As usual, in order to avoid any abusive journalistic interpretation, we offer you a “raw” translation of the entirety of the words of Andrea Dovizioso , without any formatting.
Andrea Dovizioso: “From the first laps, I realized that it was a very difficult race for me because I had no grip and I didn't understand why. But after Jorge's fall, Danilo and Marc still had the same rhythm, and so I tried to understand if I had a chance to stay with them until the end. But I didn't have a strong point compared to them, to try to fight with them. As everyone saw, it was very easy to make a mistake and there were many crashes in all categories. So today, when I did the race, I said to myself “OK, this is the day where the most important thing is to score points, and not score zero”. Because I think you have to try to take risks like Marc if it's right to do so. But I didn't feel it. I'm not perfectly happy with the feeling I have on the bike and I lost a few points in the championship, but in the wet conditions we had during the race, we confirmed our speed as in the dry, and I I'm very satisfied with it. I have a chance to fight in the championship. Of course, Marc is very strong, and the next race takes place in Aragon where he is very fast. But there are now three of us for the championship, and I think we have our card to play to try to fight for the championship. It is completely open and we have the same number of points. I feel good in the dry, and I will try until the end. »
After what happened to Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa, do you consider that there are only three of you left fighting for the championship?
“I agree with Mark. It is now very difficult for them but they still have a chance. Anything can happen, like today where it was easy to make a mistake, and so it's easy to gain 25 or 20 points, but of course the championship is currently between the top three drivers. »
Why did you decide to race with the new fairing?
“We are very familiar with the positives and negatives of the new fairing, and I think given the grip we found on this track it was good to use it. There is no doubt about it; in the wet, for sure, it's better. »
Have you thought about doing a flag to flag race?
“I never thought there was any chance today. But for sure, towards the end, there wasn't much water. We made a mistake in Brno, but each time the strategy must be different. I mean some teams today decided to prepare the second bike for the dry to be ready for the flag to flag, but for example, it couldn't be dry today and so maybe it was better to keep the second bike also for the wet. That way, if something happened in the race and you had a big advantage, you could score a few points. Every time it's different, and every time we make a mistake in a race, it's easy to say after the race that we made a mistake. But each race is a different story. »
There are five circuits left. On which ones do you think Ducati is stronger than Honda?
“Same as Marc. I say that we don't answer on the topic of circuits because we really don't know, and not because we don't want to say it. Of course, there are certain circuits that I prefer and certain circuits that he prefers, but it is more important to know how the bike works with the tires during this weekend. So it's impossible to know now. I think it will be completely open. Of course Marc and Honda confirm that they are really strong at the moment, but we also confirm, on certain circuits and in certain conditions where normally we were not fast in the past, that we are fast. I think and hope that it will be beautiful until the end. »
Did you see Lorenzo's fall and what can you say?
“He crashed where most riders crashed today. This was perhaps the worst corner regarding grip. He was driving very fast at that moment but he wasn't driving like crazy. Simply, he was taking more risks than us at that moment. It's his style and for him, it's quite easy to start very quickly from the start of the race. He tried to do that, but sometimes it doesn't work. »
#SanMarinoGP MotoGP J.3: Ranking
| 1 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 50'41.565 |
| 2 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | +1.192 |
| 3 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | +11.706 |
| 4 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | +16.559 |
| 5 | 51 | Michael PIRRO | Ducati | +19.499 |
| 6 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | +24.882 |
| 7 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Ducati | +33.872 |
| 8 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | +34.662 |
| 9 | 94 | Jonas Folger | Yamaha | +54.082 |
| 10 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | +57.964 |
| 11 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | + 1'00.440 |
| 12 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | + 1'17.356 |
| 13 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | + 1'35.588 |
| 14 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | + 1'38.857 |
| 15 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | + 2'02.212 |
| 16 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Ducati | 1 laps |
| 17 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1 laps |
| Not Classified | ||||
| 53 | Tito RABAT | Honda | 9 lapses | |
| 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 12 lapses | |
| 22 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia | 13 lapses | |
| 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 15 lapses | |
| 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | 17 lapses | |
| 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 22 lapses |
Photo credit : MotoGP.com
