Andrea Dovizioso is flying to Motegi for the Grand Prix of Japan, the fifteenth round in the 2017 MotoGP World Championship and the first leg of a challenging series of three back-to-back, end-of-season, fly-away races, which will continue the next two weekends with rounds in Australia and Malaysia.
The rider from Forli likes the Japanese track a lot, and has been on the Motegi podium in all three categories, winning the 125cc race in 2004, scoring two of his five MotoGP poles here and twice finishing runner-up in the top category. Last year Dovizioso, who started from row 2, managed to hold off a recovery from Viñales to finish with a well-deserved second place.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2nd (208 points)
“Motegi is a special circuit, one of my favourites, because you have to brake very hard and I feel sure that we can be up amongst the frontrunners once again on this track. I’m pretty confident because I’ve always scored good results here in MotoGP, twice taking pole and finishing second last year. The next four races will be vitally important in the battle for the title and we’re ready to fight things out right until the very end.”