Andrea Dovizioso powered to a third place finish in the German Grand Prix, which was held today at the Sachsenring circuit.
The ninth round of the season got underway following copious morning rainfall and all riders opted to start with rain tyres on the wet track surface. When the lights changed, Dovizioso got off the line well and moved into the lead on the third lap, but he was then passed by Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Racing Ducati), whom he followed until lap 10. After the crash that put an end to Petrucci’s race, Dovizioso took over the lead again followed by Rossi, and stayed in that position until lap 22. The next time round all the riders in the leading group entered the pits to change bikes, seeing as the track surface was drying, and the Italian returned to the track with a rear slick tyre and a front intermediate, finding himself behind Redding. Dovizioso was then passed by Crutchlow but on the last lap he managed to overtake Pramac’s British rider and finish the race in third place.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team # 04) – 3rd
“I managed to get off to a good start and immediately get into the leading group. After Petrucci’s crash, I took the lead again and concentrated on lapping quickly without wearing out the front tyre, trying not to turn into the corners abruptly and getting the bike back up out of the corners as soon as possible. The track was starting to dry out, but I stayed focused on the tyres and for this reason I missed out on the best moment to come back in and change bikes. Maybe if I had come in at least two laps before, we might have been celebrating the win. But let’s look on the positive side: we were at the Sachsenring, on a track where we have never gone well, and today we were in the lead for lots of laps. In the end we go back home with a well-deserved podium, which I want to dedicate to my team who have been working really hard.”

The Ducati Team’s Italian rider will start the German Grand Prix from the third row of the grid after today’s qualifying session at the Sachsenring, were he was seventh quickest with a time of 1’21.858.
In this morning’s FP3 session, Dovizioso was ninth quickest and this meant that he went straight through into the all-important Q2 qualifying session in the afternoon.
The final free practice session then saw Dovi finish in fifth place and then went out for the decisive qualifying run-off for the first four rows of the grid, setting the seventh-quickest time on the final lap of his second run.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’21.’858 (7th)
“I am pleased because we are again working well this weekend and we have managed to improve in every session. In FP4 our pace wasn’t bad at all and with used tyres we are not far from the frontrunners, but unfortunately in qualifying I was not able to make a perfect lap. Tomorrow the weather conditions will probably change again and the cooler temperature could help us, so we’ll see what will happen in the race.”

The Ducati rider had a positive start to his German Grand Prix weekend at the Sachsenring circuit close to Chemnitz in the former East Germany, where Sunday’s ninth round of the season is set to take place.
Andrea Dovizioso concluded the first day of free practice with fifth place in the timesheets.
On a cloudy day, with temperatures of around 15°C, all the MotoGP riders set their best time in the afternoon’s second free practice session which was held in the dry. Earlier in the morning, a few drops of rain began to fall after ten minutes of FP1, and most of the riders only went out for a few laps. They then stayed in their pit garages until the end of the session, which finished with Dovizioso fifth.
On the penultimate lap of FP2, the rider from Forli notched up his quickest time of the day in 1’22.930, which he recorded on his final lap.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’22.930 (5th)
“My weekend has begun in a positive way, especially if we consider that the track was in a difficult condition because of the cold and it was very easy to crash. In the end we are in a good position, even though the feeling with the bike is not yet perfect and I can still feel some vibration in the right-hand corners. I hope that the weather improves tomorrow, which will allow us to work better so that we can figure out these last few details.”

Following Assen, Andrea Dovizioso and the Ducati Team stay in the northern part of Europe for the ninth round of the MotoGP World Championship in Germany, which marks the half-way point of the 2016 season. The race is scheduled for this weekend at the Sachsenring circuit, close to the town of Chemnitz in what was the former East Germany.
Dovizioso, who notched up his 150th GP in the premier class at Assen, scored a third-place podium finish in MotoGP in 2012, but last year was unable to finish the race following a crash.
The weekend timetable gets underway on Friday morning with the first Free Practice session at 09.55 CET, while the 30-lap race is scheduled for Sunday at 14.00 CET.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 11° (43 points)
“I think the layout of the Sachsenring track is not ideal for the characteristics of our Desmosedici GP bike, because it has a lot of long left-hander corners where you have to keep the throttle partially open and our bike is not yet perfect in these conditions. In any case you never know until first practice because it might be better with the different tyre this year. It could be like Assen in the dry, where we were very competitive.”