For the Ducati rider and his team it will certainly be a special occasion, seeing as it is the home race.
Andrea Dovizioso, who has taken part in ten editions of the Italian GP, is familiar with the passionate support from the Mugello fans and last year he was finally able to score his first home win after a splendid race. The Italian GP schedule gets underway on Friday morning with the first free practice session at 9.55 am, while the 23-lap race will start at 14.00 CET on Sunday afternoon.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 9th (46 points)
“It’s difficult to make any predictions for the Italian GP, because this year every race is different, but even though our chief rivals were very quick in the test a couple of weeks back, we have shown that we are always fast in the race and for sure we will be competitive at Mugello. Last year Petrucci and I made all the difference in staying up at the front and I’m very confident because this year we have shown that we are fast on almost every track. It’s a pity about all the points we’ve lost in the last two races, but it’s best not to think about it because there is still a long way to go in the.”

It turned out to be an unfortunate race for Andrea Dovizioso, who had just passed his team-mate to move into the lead on lap 5. Unfortunately the Italian then made a mistake at the La Chapelle curve that sent him sliding out of the French GP.
After the fifth round of the championship, Dovizioso has now dropped to ninth place in the standings with 46 points while Lorenzo is in fourteenth position with 16 points.
The next MotoGP appointment will be the Michelin test on Tuesday 23rd May at the Montmeló circuit, while the fans are already gearing up for the Italian Grand Prix, to be held at Mugello from 1st to 3rd June.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – DNF
“I’m really gutted, this time it was only my mistake. I went a bit wide at Turn 6, I didn’t think I had any problems with the front turning in but it did. It’s a real pity because today I had good sensations and a chance of fighting for the win, I think quite easily, and it is an unacceptable error for someone like myself who wants to fight for the title. At this moment in time it’s hard to digest the mistake I made because I usually don’t make any, but unfortunately races are sometimes like that and now we have to look to the future. I want to say sorry to the team and the guys in Ducati Corse because we did an outstanding job this weekend, we came to the race in perfect condition and our bike was simply terrific.”

The Ducati Team rider will start tomorrow’s French Grand Prix at the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans from the second row of the grid.
Andrea Dovizioso, who this morning in FP3 had been unable to improve on his provisional pole time set yesterday, finished the combined standings in fifth place and then remained in that position in the afternoon’s Q2 with a time of 1’31.553.
The French Grand Prix, round 5 of the championship, will start at 14.00 CET tomorrow afternoon and will be run over a distance of 27 laps.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 5th (1’31.553)
“Today went well. The feeling with my Desmosedici GP is very good and seeing as I already had good speed, this afternoon we were able to concentrate on working on the set-up and on tyres, and now we have very clear ideas for tomorrow. I’m pleased with everything, we are in a good situation and we have the pace to fight for the podium, but there are many quick riders and so it will only be in the race that we will see which riders have better pace than the others.”

After the first day of French GP free practice at Le Mans, which ended in provisional pole with a time of 1’31.936, the only man under the 1’32” mark, Andrea Dovizioso announced the renewal of the agreement with Ducati for the next two years. Dovizioso, who is already the longest-serving Ducati rider in MotoGP after joining the Bologna-based manufacturer in 2013, at the end of 2020 will have raced a Ducati continuously for eight years, thus establishing another significant record.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1st (1’31.936)
“Today was a really great day for us, because we announced that the marriage with Ducati will continue for the next two years. I believe that together we have done a fantastic job so far, but it’s not enough: we want more and I’m happy that we have reached a deal that allows us to work with peace of mind to obtain better results. We’ve got two and a half seasons ahead of us, all the time we need to try and bring home the world title, which is our aim. I’m very pleased with the support that I have received from many people over the last few days: I could never have imagined staying so many years in Ducati, and ours is really a great story. Today we started off well, with a clear head and you could see that from the results. We managed to be immediately quick this morning, and then in the afternoon we made a further step forward with the set-up. I was quick both on new tyres and used ones, but we must continue to improve because there are a lot of riders who have a good pace here.”

After completing a one-day test last Thursday at Mugello, in which the focus was mainly on preparation work for the Italian GP, the Ducati Team rider has now arrived in France for the fifth round of the championship, scheduled for the iconic Le Mans circuit.
Andrea Dovizioso has often produced good form at Le Mans, qualifying five times on the front row in ten races, and he has climbed onto the podium three times in MotoGP, the last time in 2015 when he finished third, while twelve months ago the Italian crossed the finish line in fourth place.
The French GP weekend programme gets underway on Friday morning with the first free practice session at 9.55am, while the 27-lap race is scheduled for 14.00.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 5th (46 points)
“If we look at how competitive we were at Jerez, I’m convinced we can also go well at Le Mans, and so from this point of view I’m pretty unfazed. In today’s MotoGP you can’t afford to lose too many points, and so the zero we picked up in Spain is a big setback, but after the performance we demonstrated in the race on a track that on paper was not favourable for us, I believe that we have put the frighteners on our rivals just a little bit more. So I’m confident we can also do a good race in France.”

The Ducati Team rider had to retire from today’s Spanish Grand Prix, held today at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, after a crash on lap 18.
Andrea Dovizioso made a great recovery in the early laps after starting from row 3, and he moved into third position on lap 9. The Italian rider then latched on to Lorenzo and tried to pass him at the start of lap 18, but he went wide at Turn 6 and was involved in the incident between his team-mate and Pedrosa which put all three men out of the race.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – DNF
“What a pity! On the one hand I’m happy with the feeling that I had with the bike, my speed and how I managed the race: to start from behind and make up places here at Jerez, lapping almost at the same pace as Marquez who then won the race, is truly a great satisfaction. But in the end I go home with no points, and this is a very negative result at this moment, because we are fighting against a very strong rider and bike and as a result we can’t afford to lose 20 points when it was a foregone conclusion. About the incident, I braked right on the limit because I had been trying to pass Jorge for a few laps: I went wide and made Jorge go wide a bit as well, Dani saw an opening and jumped in too quickly and in the end bad luck would have it that when they came together they also took me down with them.”

Andrea Dovizioso on the other hand will have to start round 4 of the championship from row 3. The Italian placed eleventh in the morning’s FP3 session and then topped the timesheets in Q1. In Q2 he set a time of 1’38.029, just a whisker away from his team-mate, but had to settle for eighth place on the grid.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 8th (1’38.029)
“It’s a pity about the third row, but I’m very happy with the work of the guys in the team. We were in a bit of difficulty this morning but we were able to make the right decisions and improve the bike once again. Now we have good pace and can even think about fighting for the podium. It’s not easy to interpret the pace of our rivals because we don’t know who will use the hard or the medium tyres in the race, and not many riders have done comparative tests. In qualifying I went well but unfortunately I didn’t do a perfect lap and I will have to start in eighth place: however now we’ve resolved the situation with our pace, I reckon we can have a say in the outcome of tomorrow’s race.”

Following on from the first three overseas rounds of the season, Andrea Dovizioso has now arrived in Spain, where the fourth round of the MotoGP World Championship will be held on Sunday at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Andalusia, leading the championship. Even though the Jerez circuit has never provided him with much satisfaction, he is confident he can produce a good race. Until now the best result for the Italian rider at Jerez has been a fifth place, which he obtained three times: in 2012, in 2014 and last year.
The Jerez de la Frontera weekend gets underway on Friday morning with the first free practice session at 9.55 am, while the 25-lap race is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 14.00 CET.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1st (46 points)
“We come to the first European round of the season first in the standings, a situation that is clearly much better than last year, and this is certainly positive. We managed the first three rounds well, but we could also see that our rivals are all really fast. In November last year we did a good test at the Jerez circuit and the new asphalt had good grip, but it was colder then so we will have to wait for Friday to get a better idea of the track conditions.”