The second day of official MotoGP testing at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Cheste came to a close this afternoon at 17.00. After two days of track activity, Andrea Dovizioso had completed a total of 100 laps, the Italian continuing the development work on the Desmosedici GP 2020 with positive results. His best time today was 1’31.143.

Day 1 – 1’30.665 (8th) – 42 laps today
“Today it was important to deliberate on several components of the new bike on which we did back-to-back tests, and we were also able to try out a new experimental front tyre brought here by Michelin. The next test at Jerez will be very important for us to be able to give a definitive opinion about the 2020 package, but the first impression is positive”.

Day 2 – 1’30.665 (4th) – 58 laps
“I’m pleased because we tested some new stuff and it’s very interesting. Of course we’ll have to do some more tests with everything and also get some feedback on another track, to confirm the positive feeling we had today and then work on the details to try and make more improvements. In any case today went very well and I’m really satisfied”.

Andrea Dovizioso finished the GP de la Comunitat Valenciana, held today at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Cheste, in fourth place. The Ducati Team man, who started from the second row of the grid, after passing Rins on lap 5 began to chase down the Ducati Pramac of Miller but in the end had to settle for fourth position, which he defended from the Suzuki rider’s attacks to the chequered flag.

Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 4th
“All in all I’m happy with our speed in the race: our pace was very constant and in the end the gap to Marquez wasn’t very big. I tried to catch Miller for third but he was riding very well and was quicker than me in several places, so he deserved the podium. I’m satisfied with the way we finished the season because both at Sepang and here at Valencia we were fast. We have confirmed a solid second place, unfortunately with a very big gap from Marquez in the standings, but also with a large gap over the third-placed rider, despite two zeros at Barcelona and Silverstone that were not our fault”.

Andrea Dovizioso will start tomorrow’s GP de la Comunitat Valenciana from the second row of the grid at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Cheste. The Ducati Team’s Romagna-based rider, who had finished the FP3 session in eighth place, then went on to set sixth quickest time in Q2 with a lap of 1’30.511.

Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 1’30.511 (6th)
“Today we were able to improve the set-up of my Desmosedici GP and I’m satisfied. It wasn’t easy but we got closer to the frontrunners both on speed and on pace. Starting from the second row is very important, especially here at Valencia, and even though I didn’t do a perfect lap, I was able to set a good time. I don’t know if we will have the pace to be able to fight for the podium, but as always in the race anything can happen”.

Andrea Dovizioso finished the opening day of practice for the GP de la Comunitat Valenciana, the final MotoGP round of the season scheduled for this weekend at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, in ninth position.
The Ducati Team rider set a time of 1’31.351 at the end of this afternoon’s second free practice session.

Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 1’31.351 (9th)
“This afternoon we had a few setbacks that prevented us from completely getting through our work load, but in any case we were able to get inside the top 10 and this is positive. At the moment, Viñales and Marquez have a better pace than all the other riders but our immediate target is to get in behind them and see what sort of margin we have for improvement. It will also be important to make the best tyre choice because for the moment the situation for the race isn’t very clear”.

Andrea Dovizioso stepped onto the podium today in the Shell Malaysia Grand Prix thanks to an excellent third place obtained at the end of a race that was a challenging test for bikes and riders due to the very high temperatures reached today at the Sepang circuit.
The rider from Forlì, who powered away well at the start from his row 4 grid position, crossed the line in fourth place at the end of the opening lap. Andrea then passed Miller on lap 4 and held on to third place until the chequered flag, defending the position steadfastly from the attacks by Rossi.
With third place today, the number of podiums achieved so far by Ducati in the 2019 season rises to 16, the best result by the Italian manufacturer since 2007, the year in which it won the World Constructors’ and Riders’ titles.

Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 3rd
“I’m very pleased because it was the fastest race we’ve ever done at Sepang in the dry, and so we have to be satisfied with this result. We knew that with a good start we could have aimed for a good result, but unfortunately in the race I didn’t have the same feeling as I had in practice: the tyres dropped a lot and I couldn’t stay with Viñales and Marquez. Pity because I was hoping I could, but in any case I’m happy with this podium, which is very important for me”.

It will be a row 4 start for Andrea Dovizioso, who finished the combined free practice sessions in fifth place, a result that took him directly into Q2 where he was only able to obtain the tenth quickest time in 1’59.173.

Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 1’59.173 (10th)
“It’s a real pity having to start from tenth, because today we were able to make a further improvement to my race pace and so a good starting position would have been really important. Unfortunately, in qualifying my feeling with the bike wasn’t optimal and so I just wasn’t able to be quick enough. In any case here the straight is very long and with a good start, we can make up a lot of positions at the start of the race”.

Andrea Dovizioso ended the first day of action at the Sepang circuit in third place following today’s two scheduled free practice sessions. The Ducati Team rider, who was fifth this morning after FP1, was able to improve his feeling in the afternoon session, and with a time of 1’59.206, he wrapped up the day in third place.

Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 1’59.206 (3rd)
“Sepang is a fascinating circuit, but it’s also complicated because of the heat and the tyre drop that you always get on this track. In the afternoon we tried a different set-up that gave interesting results: it’s not easy to manage but it allowed me to be more consistent and quicker so I’m happy with today’s improvements. It’s still not enough to think about fighting for the win on Sunday, because there are some riders who are better placed than us, but I’m pleased with the work we did today and my feeling.”