Andrea Dovizioso put in a great race today at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar to finish in second place in the opening round of the 2017 MotoGP World Championship. The Ducati Team rider led for several laps but had to settle for the runner-up slot, less than half-a-second behind winner Viñales, with whom he had a terrific battle throughout the second part of the race. Today’s result was the third time in the last three years that the Italian rider has taken second place. The race started with a delay of 45 minutes due to the weather conditions, and it was shortened from 22 to 20 laps.
Dovizioso started well from row 2 and moved up from fourth to second in the opening six laps, taking the lead on lap 7 after Zarco crashed out. He remained in the lead until lap 13, holding off first Marquez and then Viñales, who passed him for the next four laps. Dovizioso was again back in front of the Spanish rider on lap 17, but Viñales overtook him on the next lap and held the Ducati rider off until the chequered flag.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2nd
“I’m very pleased with the result and the job we did this weekend: it was difficult for everyone because of the conditions we encountered, but we worked well and we calmly arrived at the race with a competitive set-up. We were even better at choosing the rear tyre on the grid, changing strategy and switching to the soft tyre. In the final part of the race I tried to hold back Maverick but I don’t think that we could have done anything better today.”