The big weekend has arrived for Andrea Dovizioso and the Ducati team who are now the only ones who can prevent Marc Marquez from being World Champion. The Desmosedici remains on a magnificent double at Sepang, with victory for Dovi ahead of his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, but the Spanish leader of the Repsol Honda team will line up on the Ricardo Tormo circuit with 21 points in advance.
To be crowned World Champion on Sunday, Dovizioso must finish first if Marc Marquez does not score any points. Conversely, to be titled the Honda driver must finish among the first eleven if the Italian wins. Whatever the result on Sunday, 2017 will have been an extraordinary season for Dovizioso, with six victories to his name, plus a second and a third place.
Andrea has taken part in nine MotoGP races at Valencia, his best result being a third place in 2011, while last year he finished the race in seventh place after starting from the second row on the grid. departure.
Dovi will be able to count on his teammate Jorge Lorenzo who, after a good race at Sepang, also wants to end the season in the best possible way. The Majorcan rider took part in eight MotoGP races in Valencia between 2008 and 2016 (forfeited in 2011), winning four of them, including the one in 2015 with 0.2 ahead of Marc Marquez and 0.6 over Dani Pedrosa, then crossing the finish line as winner in 2016 with 1.1 ahead of Marc Marquez, 6.6 over Andrea Iannone and 7.6 over Valentino Rossi.
To support Dovi, there will also be a third wild card outing for Michele Pirro with the Desmosedici of the Ducati Test Team. The Italian has competed in the Valencia race four times in the MotoGP class, with his best result being a fifth place in 2012, while the previous year he won the Moto2 race.
The Ducati team has won twice in MotoGP at Valencia, with Troy Bayliss in 2006 and Casey Stoner in 2008.
According to Andrea Dovizioso, who are " We arrive in Valencia with a big points gap behind Marquez and on a track where he runs very well, so we know it's going to be difficult.
“The only strategy for me, with this gap, is to try to win and then see where my rival finishes. At the moment we are very efficient on almost all circuits and therefore we must try to approach this weekend with optimism, as we have always done recently.
“I'm a normal guy who has the privilege of living his passion successfully. Television shows our image in detail, but I don't see myself the way other people see me.
“It's true, I've never fought for the title, but I know what it's like to be at the forefront of a World Championship: fighting for the 125cc title at 3 is not less demanding.
“People are impressed by my success this year, but I don't think it's extraordinary, I'm more angry that success didn't come sooner.
“I've been racing motorcycles since I was seven years old, and I've often cried when the results weren't what I expected, but now I understand that it's not always the winner who comes first. I want to win because I want to be the best. If someone is faster than me, I congratulate them and it is heard.
“I see more and more eat-and-die riders who hate you when you beat them… In the past, motorcycling was a sport of enthusiasts where results were not the most important. Supporting one and hating the other disgusts me.
“In general, I don't like technicians, they have difficulty listening to me, believing and implementing what I tell them: if something is not measurable in numbers, it's just words for them.
“I'm not someone who has to assert everything, I know what I need and I try to ask for it with respect.
“It's difficult for me to live far from my family. I don't live in the most beautiful city in the world, but it's the place where I raised my family and where I'm happy.
“Some people have helped me understand the things that allow me to live a better life, and that affects everything I do: in my relationship with people, in the way I handle errands and how I behave at home. the House.
“You can say that after a few years, if you don't fight for victories or world titles, you lose your self-confidence, you talk about things that may not be correct, but influence everything you do.
“We all think we know each other 100%, but that’s not true. This is the most important thing an athlete must understand. But on the other hand, if you understand your personality, you can work on certain aspects. It's not about working more or less, but about understanding who you are and how to improve. I know and understand myself now much better than a few years ago.
“There are other drivers who drive by feeling: if they feel good, everything is good, if they make a mistake, everything is bad. I'm still trying to figure out what's going on and look at where the limit is. I'm rarely wrong, but sometimes I don't have the best solution. If you think rationally, you get to the point where you make mistakes like that, because things are often irrational and I'm not particularly irrational. »
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 MARQUEZ Marc SPA 282 points
2 DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA 261
3 VIÑALES Maverick SPA 226
4 ROSSI Valentino ITA 197
5 PEDROSA Dani SPA 185
6 ZARCO Johann FRA 154
7 LORENZO Jorge SPA 137
8 PETRUCCI Danilo ITA 121
9 CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR 104
10 FOLGER Jonas GER 84
11 BAUTISTA Alvaro SPA 75
12 MILLER Jack AUS 73
13 REDDING Scott GBR 64
14 ESPARGARO Aleix SPA 62
15 IANNONE Andrea ITA 60
16 ESPARGARO Pol SPA 55
17 RINS Alex SPA 46
18 BAZ Loris FRA 45
19 ABRAHAM Karel CZE 30
20 RABAT Tito SPA 29
Ranking of independent drivers:
1 ZARCO Johann FRA 154 points
2 PETRUCCI Danilo ITA 121
3 CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR 104
Ranking of the best rookie (beginner):
1 ZARCO Johann FRA 154 points
2 FOLGER Jonas GER 84
3 RINS Alex SPA 46
4 LOWES Sam GBR 5
Classification by manufacturers:
1 HONDA 332 points
2 DUCATI 303
3 YAMAHA 301
4 SUZUKI 87
5 APRILIA 64
6 KTM 64
Team ranking:
1 REPSOL HONDA TEAM 467 points
2 MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP 423
3 DUCATI TEAM 398
4 MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 238
5 OCTO PRAMAC RACING 185
6 TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR 107
7 PULL&BEAR ASPAR TEAM 105
8 LCR HONDA 104
9 EG 0,0 MARC VDS 102
10 RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 79
11 REALE AVINTIA RACING 72
12 APRILIA RACING TEAM GRESINI 67
Photo © Ducati
Partial source: speedweek. com
