Andrea Dovizioso returned to the top of the points standings in the MotoGP World Championship with a fifth-place finish in the GP of The Americas, which was held today at Austin in Texas.
The Ducati Team’s Italian rider, who started from row 3, scrapped with Zarco and Crutchlow for much of the 20-lap race, and after the latter crashed out, he attacked the Frenchman on lap 17 to take the chequered flag in fifth.
In the overall standings, Dovizioso now has 46 points, one ahead of Marc Marquez, who won today’s race in Texas.
The next race on the MotoGP calendar will be the Spanish Grand Prix from 4-6 May at Jerez de la Frontera.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 5th
“Even though I struggled a lot today, I’m pleased to return to Europe leading the championship! This year I was hoping we were going to be a bit more competitive both in Argentina and here in Texas, but we struggled like in 2017. If however we look at the points standings twelve months ago, I came to Jerez a long way behind the leaders and now we are leading the championship. It’s true that the classification is very tight, but we’ve made a big step forward and even though the weekend began in a really difficult way for us, in the end we made the right choices of set-up, fairing and also tyres and we took home a good result, useful for the championship.”

The Ducati Team rider will start the GP of The Americas, round 3 of the 2018 MotoGP world championship season, from row 3 after qualifying at the Austin, Texas circuit.
Andrea Dovizioso was a couple of places down in eighth, and the Italian will start the GP of The Americas, scheduled for 14.00 local time (21.00 CET), from the third row.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 8th (2’04.865)
“Today was a very productive day because the changes we made to the bike went in the right direction and we got a lot closer to the guys at the front. Now we can start to think about getting on the podium tomorrow, but I believe there are going to be a lot of us with the same idea. In any case the step we made today was an important one, even though I still don’t have a perfect feeling with my bike on this track.”

Andrea Dovizioso finished the first day of practice for the GP of the Americas inside the top 10 at the Circuit of The Americas near Austin, Texas.
In the afternoon session all the MotoGP riders improved their times from the morning’s run: Dovizioso was one place down in eighth after a lap of 2’05.647.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 8th (2’05.647)
“It was rather a difficult day and it’s a real shame that the surface of this fantastic track is ruined so much. This morning the track was still dirty, something that complicated our work even more, but in the afternoon we managed to improve enough. We haven’t got the right set-up yet, but we knew that we were going to struggle at this circuit and all things considered we’re not doing too badly. We must continue working on the set-up, and let’s hope we have the time tomorrow to do it because it looks like rain is on its way. In any case it’s positive to be already inside the top 10, so at least now we can approach things calmly.”

Following the second race of the season, which was held ten days ago in Argentina, the MotoGP teams and riders have now arrived in the United States for Texas’s appointment with the championship at the Circuit of The Americas on the outskirts of Austin.
The two Ducati Team rider, Andrea Dovizoso, is determined to rapidly put behind him the Termas de Río Hondo weekend, and in Texas he will encounter a track where Ducati has scored some quite good results but never a win in the last few years.
In the five editions of the GP of the Americas held so far, Dovizioso’s best result is a second place in 2015, while last year the Italian had to settle for sixth.
The Austin weekend gets underway on Friday morning with the first free practice session at 9.55 am (16.55 CET), while the 20-lap race is scheduled for Sunday at 2 pm local time (21.00 CET).

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2nd (35 points)
“At Termas we managed to bring home a sixth place, a result that was below our expectations but positive in view of the championship, and now we arrive at Austin, which is a really nice track but rather a difficult one. We will have to take into consideration the track conditions, because last year there were a lot of bumps, and also the tyres, which can have a bit effect on the weekend. In any case we know our strong points and we also know which aspects we have to work on, so it will be important to get down to work right away in the first session to prepare well for the race.”

The Argentina GP got off to a difficult start today as changeable weather conditions at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit forced the Race Direction to delay the start after all the riders had lined up on the grid, and the distance to cover was reduced to 24 laps as a result.
Andrea Dovizioso, who was starting from row 3, crossed the line at the end of the opening lap in seventh place, and then moved up to fifth by the mid-point. The Ducati Team’s Italian rider was then passed by the two Yamaha men and by Marquez but, thanks also to a crash involving Rossi and the Honda rider and the subsequent penalty handed out to the Spaniard, he finished his race in sixth place.
In the overall standings Dovizioso is now lying in second place on 35 points, three behind today’s race winner and provisional points leader Crutchlow.
MotoGP will next be back on track in a fortnight’s time in the United States, at the modern Circuit of the Americas facility near Austin, Texas.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 6th
“It was a really difficult weekend for us, but in the end we managed to take home some good points on a day in which we weren’t quick enough to fight for the podium. I’m happy with the way I managed my race, but in certain conditions and on certain tracks we must still improve because clearly we’re not quick enough. The fact that we didn’t get many laps in the dry over the weekend didn’t help us with setting the bike up but if we look at things from another point of view, I was lucky because three riders fighting for the championship scored three zeroes for different reasons. We go back home quite calm about things, but this weekend showed us that we still have to continue to work on different aspects of our bike.”

Light rain greeted the MotoGP teams this morning at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit and the weather conditions failed to change much throughout the day. As a result the third free practice session didn’t allow the riders to improve on their times set yesterday and so Andrea Dovizioso had to take part in the early afternoon’s first qualifying session.
The Italian rider was able to go through Q1 with second-quickest time.
During Q2 all riders went out for their first run with rain tyres on a drying track, which still had a very damp third sector. Dovizioso continued with this solution throughout and set eighth quickest time in 1’48.247, which earned him a place on the third row for the Argentina GP.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04): 8th (1’48.247)
“Today the situation wasn’t easy at all, because there was drizzle in some parts of the track and the surface was very tricky. This morning we did a good job to work calmly and this afternoon, despite problems with sliding in the curves, I did two good qualifying sessions after using the same rain tyres in Q1 and in Q2, and so I’m happy to start from row 3 tomorrow. With wet conditions my set-up is quite good, but a lot will depend on the amount of water on the track, if it rains tomorrow and it looks like it will. I’m very satisfied with the job my team did, because despite a difficult day yesterday, we were able to really turn the situation round today.”

The first day of free practice action at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit in Argentina proved to be a difficult one for the Ducati Team Italian rider. Following today’s two sessions, the provisional timesheets currently see Andrea Dovizioso down in fifteenth place.
In the morning’s first free practice session, Dovizioso was eighth quickest, but in the afternoon the Ducati rider was not able to improve on his time and for the moment he is lying outside the top 10.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04): 15th (1:40.938)
“Our position in today’s FP2 session doesn’t respect the real situation, so I don’t think there is that much to worry about. In the afternoon we came across some rather strange track conditions and I didn’t have a good feeling with the bike, so I didn’t do many laps and finished the session quite far behind. However we’ve got some ideas about what happened, and we’re not in such a bad a position as might seem. Today, as I said, my feeling with the bike wasn’t the best and when the situation is like that it makes no sense to take risks in order to set mediocre times. Let’s hope we have at least one dry session tomorrow to be able to put together all the little details that can change our situation.”

After the 2018 season’s opening round, which saw a splendid victory in Qatar, Andrea Dovizioso is now getting ready to tackle the next race in this year’s MotoGP World Championship. The Argentina GP will take place from 6 to 8 August at the Termas de Río Hondo circuit in the northern part of the country, approximately one hour by plane from the capital Buenos Aires.
The Argentina GP has now arrived at its fourteenth edition, and the fifth at this circuit. Andrea Dovizioso scored his best result here in 2015, when he finished the race in second place, while last year he was forced to retire following a crash caused by a collision with another rider’s bike.
The Termas de Río Hondo weekend will get underway on Friday morning with the first free practice session at 10.55 (15.55 CET), while the 25-lap race is scheduled for Sunday at 15.00 local time (20.00 CET).

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1st (25 points)
“This circuit is rather unusual, in that the conditions change a lot between Friday, when the track surface is usually very dirty, and Sunday, when the asphalt has improved considerably. Last year at Termas we struggled a lot, but the Desmosedici GP has improved a lot since then and after the win in Qatar we are very excited, so our aim now is to get a good result also in Argentina!”