Andrea Dovizioso, who started from row 4 after qualifying tenth on the grid, had another unlucky race. The rider from Romagna managed to work his way up to fifth place by lap 11 after passing Smith, Crutchlow and the Espargarò brothers, then held on to that position until lap 14. Unfortunately an unexpected vibration on his GP15, which got worse lap after lap, forced him to slow his pace and as a result Dovizioso had to settle for twelfth overall.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 12th
“It’s a real pity what happened today because after not exactly setting the world alight in qualifying, I had succeeded in moving up to fifth place in the race. I was running behind Iannone when a part of the seat, attached to the exhaust, broke. This moved around a lot and caused the front of the bike to vibrate. I had to slow down because I almost crashed many times and this did not allow me to score a good result. Without this setback we could have done a good race even though we were not entirely satisfied with our speed.”

With the Barcelona race behind them, Andrea Dovizioso and the Ducati Team are now heading northwards towards the Netherlands for round 8 of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship at the Assen TT circuit. As well as being the oldest race on the calendar (the first edition was in 1949), the Dutch GP is also the only one that is traditionally held on Saturday. The circuit has undergone a number of alterations over the years, but what has never changed is the incredible number of fans that flock there every year.

Andrea Dovizioso, who does not rate Assen as one of his favourite circuits, has however been on the podium three times there in the MotoGP category, with a third place in 2011 and 2012, and the runner-up slot last year. After a great start to the season, in which he scored four podium finishes in the first five races, the Forlì-born racer now comes off the back of two successive DNFs at Mugello and Barcelona and is anxious to bring an end to this negative run as soon as possible.

The TT Assen round begins on Thursday morning with Free Practice 1 at 9.55am, with the 26-lap race scheduled for 2pm on Saturday afternoon.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 4° (83 points)
“I was very disappointed about my crash at Barcelona, because we could have scored some good points for the championship, but I also know we are working well and this gives me the opportunity to fight for the podium at every round. At Assen it is important for us to come back to the podium and confirm our speed. The Dutch track is unique because of its particular layout, but also because of the weather conditions we usually encounter during the race weekend. In any case, we have to look at the positive things: we have a very fast bike and for sure we will be competitive at Assen.”

Andrea Dovizioso’s race was not positive. After starting from row 2 in fifth, the Romagna-born rider got a good start to finish the first two laps of the race in third place, and he then moved up into second after Marquez crashed out. Andrea lost a place to Rossi on lap 3 and then crashed out on lap 6, due to a loss of grip in his rear tyre.

Dovizioso now lies fourth in the overall standings with 83 points, while Ducati and the Ducati Team are currently second in the classifications reserved for Manufacturers and Teams.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – DNF
“I’m really disappointed because two DNFs in a row is hard to accept. The track conditions were difficult for everyone, but we were in a position to get on the podium and it was very important for me to finish in the top 3 again. Today the two Yamahas confirmed that it’s not easy to stay with them, but the Hondas were within our reach. I made a small mistake at Turn 4 and the bike went away from me more than usual, but it did it in a way that was so abrupt that I never even did a high-side. This had never happened to us before, and so we have to understand if we can improve the electronics so as to prevent this problem in the future.”

The first two free practice sessions for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Catalunya took place today in fine weather conditions at the Montmelò circuit on the outskirts of Barcelona.
Andrea Dovizioso ended the day in fourth place, but both Ducati Team rider will still need to do a lot of work tomorrow in order to find an ideal set-up that will help him improve his feeling with the Desmosedici GP15 on the Catalan track.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’41.823 (4th)
“Today was a bit of a strange day: the feeling I had with my GP15 was rather unusual and so we will have to check through the data to see what we need to modify on the bike. The track doesn’t have much grip and there are also a lot of dips created by the cars, which cause us a lot of bother. We’ve still got all day tomorrow to work on things, so we’ll have a look at the data calmly before deciding the right direction to take to improve.”

Last year’s edition saw Andrea Dovizioso start from seventh on the grid, and finish eighth in the race. In any case the Montmelò track, where he won in 250cc in 2006, is one of the Forlì rider’s favourites.
The Catalan GP weekend gets underway on Friday morning with the first session of free practice at 09.55 CET, while the 25-lap race is scheduled for Sunday at 14.00 CET.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 3rd (83 points)

“At Montmelò we want to confirm the speed we had at Mugello, and I think that the Desmosedici GP15 can also be competitive at Barcelona. All of our disappointment over what happened at Mugello has been channelled into the determination and desire to get a good result there. I really like this circuit, it’s one of the best in the calendar and I can’t wait to make up for the last race. At Mugello we lost a lot of points in the championship, but we must think positively and I believe that at Barcelona we can fight for the podium once again”.