It ended on Sunday the seventh edition of the Ride For Life charity event organized by the non-profit organization Riders4Riders, held at the Imola circuit.
Andrea does not want to miss it, and along with other riders and friends gave life to an exciting Pit Bike race on an artificial track in the ground set up inside the paddock of the Imola circuit.

Andrea Dovizioso
“Ride For Life now has a nice fixture and I am personally satisfied with the continued growth of this genuine event that puts the charity issue ahead of everything. How many laughs on Pit Bike with lots of friends or colleagues, the pretext is always to give a little bit of gas but the really important answer comes from the public and by the work of volunteers “

Positive first day for Andrea Dovizioso, who switched between the 2016 and 2017 versions of the Desmosedici GP, as well as carried out several runs on the bike without winglets. The Italian, who did a total of 54 laps, ended the day in fifth place with a best time of 1’31.131.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’31.131 (5th), 54 laps
“These two days of testing are very important for us, because they are the last ones we can do until the IRTA test at Sepang at the end of January 2017, and so we are doing everything necessary to define the details of next year’s bike. Today went well and we did several runs on the 2016 bike, both with and without wings, before switching to the new bike, which immediately proved to be very competitive, seeing as we were able to replicate virtually the same times. Tomorrow we hope the weather will remain good, because it will mean we’ll have all day to carry on with our work schedule.”

Andrea Dovizioso starting from second row was unable to get a good start and he finished the opening lap in seventh place, before latching onto the group made up of Iannone, Viñales, Rossi and Marquez. Dovizioso then had to slow his pace due to a lack of feeling with the front of his bike, and he was passed by Pol Espargarò, finishing the race in seventh place just a fraction behind the Spanish rider.
The final championship standings see Dovizioso in fifth place with 171 points.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 7th
“I’m a bit disappointed because I had hoped to finish the season fighting for the podium again, but I had a problem with the front from the first lap: the feeling with my bike was different to what it was in practice and I wasn’t able to brake the way I wanted. It was a pity because I really wanted to fight for the podium at Valencia, which has always been a tough track for me, and I think that today it could have been within reach. In any case finishing fifth overall was my aim, and if you think that I was eleventh at the fourth round, I have to be satisfied with our final place. I’m also happy to form part of the Ducati project for the next two years, because now we want to try and fight for something even more important.”

Andrea Dovizioso will start tomorrow’s Valencia Grand Prix at the Ricardo Tormo circuit near Valencia from the second row of the grid. The Italian rider clocked the fifth quickest time of 1’30.338 in this afternoon’s qualifying session.
This morning, at the end of FP3, the Ducati Team rider was classified in fourth place, thus going through directly into Q2. Dovi then went out on track for the thirty-minute afternoon FP4 session and ended ninth.
The final round of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship will be held over thirty laps and the race will start at 14.00 CET.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’30.338 (5th)
“I’m satisfied with the work we did today because we focussed on race pace. Above all, in FP4 we used the same tyres as we had in the morning, and we picked up some important information about the tyre wear which will be useful tomorrow. In qualifying I did a good lap, for sure it wasn’t a perfect run, but I’m satisfied because it was vital to get onto the front two rows and we managed to do that. Now we’ll use the warm-up for fine-tuning and then in the race it’ll be essential to get a good start. Even though it’s not going to be easy, I feel sure we can fight for a podium place.”

Ducati Team rider got off to a positive start on the first day of free practice action at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit on the outskirts of Valencia.
After today’s two free practice sessions Andrea Dovizioso was classified in fifth position with a time of 1’31.066.
In the morning’s first free practice run, Dovizioso set fourth fastest time in 1’31.532.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’31.066 (5th)
“I am pleased because today we started off on the right foot, with confirmation of the good feeling that I have had with the bike in the last few races. Valencia is still a bit of a tough track for us, but we are working to improve our performance. We have to intervene on the set-up to allow the bike to give me a better corner exit performance, but all things considered for me it was a good Friday.”

Following the splendid victory in the Malaysia GP, Andrea Dovizioso has arrived in Spain for the final round of the season, the Valencia Grand Prix at the Ricardo Tormo circuit. The track, which is located at Cheste on the outskirts of Valencia, is the fourth race this year on Spanish soil: it runs in a counter-clockwise direction and has one of the slowest average speeds on the calendar.
As always, Sunday’s race will be followed by the two-day IRTA official test session, which kicks off the 2017 season and which on Tuesday and Wednesday will see Andrea Dovizioso flanked by the three-time world champion, Jorge Lorenzo, who makes his debut on the Italian bike.
Andrea Dovizioso has taken part in eight MotoGP races at Valencia, with his best result a third place in 2011. Last year he finished seventh after starting from the third row. With one round left in the championship, Dovizioso lies fifth overall with 162 points.
The Valencia weekend programme gets underway on Friday morning with the first free practice session at 09.55 CET while the thirty-lap race is scheduled for Sunday at 14.00 CET.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 5th (162 points)
“It was a really special feeling for me to win in Sepang, because it was important to win a race this season, and now I can go to Valencia with this off my mind and fully aware of my worth. My goal was to arrive fifth in the championship and I have a chance to do that but above all I’m happy with the improvements made this year by the bike, the team and on a personal level, so now I’ll do everything to finish the championship in the best possible way in Spain.”