Andrea Dovizioso celebrates his 100th GP for Ducati by winning the Czech Grand Prix ahead of his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who finished a close runner-up.
The Italian rider, who started from pole position, led for 18 of the scheduled 21 laps, battling first with Rossi, then in the final stages holding off the attacks from his team-mate and Marquez and he crossed the finish-line in first place with an advantage of 178 thousandths of a second over Lorenzo. Thanks to today’s win, Dovizioso moves into third place in the Riders’ championship standings with 113 points, 68 behind leader Marquez.
The next event will be the Austrian Grand Prix, which will be held in one week’s time at the Red Bull Ring circuit near Zeltweg.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1st
“It was an incredible win! Before this weekend I was excited because I felt that we could do well, but I never expected such a spectacular victory. I was very quick right from the first session on Friday, yesterday I did an awesome qualifying, today in the race I had a perfect strategy, and so I’m very pleased with everything. I managed the race lap by lap, trying to interpret what was happening around me and see how the other guys were riding: I raced well without ever misusing the rear tyre and, even though I was having a bit of difficulty in the final stages, in any case I was able to fight off Jorge and Marc, who today were both really on top form.”