Andrea Dovizioso scored a fifth-place finish in the Grand Prix of Japan, round 15 of the 2015 World Championship held today at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit.
This morning, poor visibility due to low clouds and heavy rainfall at the Japanese circuit meant that Race Direction took the decision to delay the warm-up sessions for all categories. The MotoGP race started on time and took place in wet conditions, but even though the rain had stopped the track surface never dried out completely.
Dovizioso, who started the race from row 2, immediately powered into third, a position he held until lap 10. On the following lap he was passed by Pedrosa, the eventual race winner, and in the next few laps he had to slow his pace because of progressive wear on his rain tyres. With four laps remaining, Andrea was no longer able to defend himself from the attacks of Marquez and he concluded the GP of Japan in fifth place.
Dovizioso drops to seventh behind Pedrosa and Smith in the overall standings.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 5th
“Today we didn’t have such a bad race pace, but after a few laps the front tyre started to deteriorate, and I was no longer able to brake well. It was a bit of a strange situation, because although everyone else probably had the same tyre wear, in my case at the start, when the track was still wet, the front was closing in all the time and I couldn’t push hard. It was a real pity because we had good pace and I think that we could have fought for the podium. In any case we took home a fifth place in difficult conditions because it was not easy to get to the chequered flag. It was a real pity because we had a lot more potential today.”