Andrea Dovizioso

Andrea Dovizioso
Dovizioso at the 2010 Qatar Grand Prix.
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1986-03-23) 23 March 1986 Forlimpopoli, Italy
Current team	Ducati Team
Bike number	4
Website	andreadovizioso.com
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2008–present Manufacturers Ducati, Yamaha, Honda Championships 0 2016 championship position 5th (171 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 160 2 34 5 3 1646 250cc World Championship Active years 2005–2007 Manufacturers Honda Championships 0 2007 championship position 2nd (260 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 49 4 26 4 8 721 125cc World Championship Active years 2001–2004 Manufacturers Honda, Aprilia Championships 1 (2004) 2004 championship position 1st (293 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 49 5 15 9 3 492

Andrea Dovizioso (born 23 March 1986) is a professional motorcycle road racer who currently competes in the MotoGP world championship, for the factory Ducati Team. He won the 125cc World Championship in 2004. He also finished third in the MotoGP class in 2011 and has been a race winner on two occasions, separated by seven years.

Career

125cc

Born in Forlimpopoli, Italy, Dovizioso won the 125cc Italian Aprilia Challenge in 2000. In 2001 Dovizioso won the 125cc European Championship and also competed in his first World Championship race at Mugello, in which he retired. In 2002 he competed in the 125cc World Championship with Team Scot Honda, finishing 16th in the final standings. His best results were two 9th places in Le Mans and Donington. He continued with the team in 2003, finishing 5th in the final standings and achieving four podium finishes. The 2004 season saw him pick up five victories and six other podium finishes on his way to winning the championship with 293 points.

250cc

Honda NSR250 used by Dovizioso in the 250cc World Championship

In 2005 Dovizioso moved to the 250cc class, continuing with Team Scot Honda. The season included five podium finishes and 3rd place in the overall standings. He also won the Rookie of the Year award. In 2006 he stayed with the team, who were now renamed as Humangest Racing. He won two races in Barcelona and Estoril and finished on the podium 11 times. He fought for the championship until the final race of the season, but had to settle for 2nd place behind Jorge Lorenzo. The 2007 season saw him win two races in Istanbul and Donington and challenge once again for the championship, but he finished in 2nd place once again.

MotoGP

Honda (2008–2011)

2008

Dovizioso at the 2008 British Grand Prix

On 15 September 2007, Dovizioso announced that he would be making the move up to the MotoGP class with his existing team in 2008.^[1] On his premier class debut, Dovizioso achieved a highly credible fourth place, at the season opener in Qatar, passing Valentino Rossi on the last lap. Throughout the season Dovi was one of the most consistent Honda riders, placing 4th and 5th several times, and achieving a 3rd place podium finish at the Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang. Dovizioso finished 5th in the final standings.

2009

Dovizioso at the 2009 Italian Grand Prix

For the 2009 season, Dovizioso became an official Repsol Honda rider replacing Nicky Hayden and partnering Spain's Dani Pedrosa.^[2] In July 2009, Dovizioso won his first race in MotoGP at the British Grand Prix in wet conditions at Donington Park.^[3] Despite otherwise consistent points finishes, Dovizioso ended up with less points than in his début season in the class, ending up sixth in the final standings.

2010

The podium after the 2010 Italian Grand Prix; Dovizioso (right) finished third, behind Jorge Lorenzo (left), and race-winner Dani Pedrosa (centre).

Dovizioso had a strong start to his second season with the Repsol Honda team picking up a podium in the season-opening race in Qatar. Three more podiums followed early in the year before his results tailed off mid season. Despite this, Dovizioso consistently racked up points and claimed his first pole position in MotoGP at the Japanese Grand Prix at Twin Ring Motegi.^[4] He went on to finish second in the race after challenging for the race win, equalling his result from the British Grand Prix; Dovizioso again finished second in the following race in Malaysia. Dovizioso retired in Australia, and concluded the season with third in Portugal and fifth in Valencia to finish fifth in the final championship standings.

2011

Dovizioso at the 2011 Portuguese Grand Prix

Dovizioso remained with Repsol Honda for a third consecutive season in 2011, riding in a three-bike team alongside Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa. Dovizioso started the season well, with a fourth place in Qatar after a race-long battle with Marco Simoncelli. At Jerez, Dovizioso experienced severe tyre wear and had to make a tyre change on his way to 12th place in the damp conditions. He took fourth place in Portugal, with a late-race pass on Valentino Rossi, before Le Mans saw Dovizioso's best performance of the season to that point. Having circulated in sixth for a portion of the race, he was helped by the collision between Pedrosa and Simoncelli, which saw Pedrosa crash out and Simoncelli given a ride-through penalty. He then passed Jorge Lorenzo and Rossi en route to a second-place finish.^[5] Fourth place followed in Catalunya, before another second place in Great Britain, having started fifth and led the first few laps before being overtaken by team-mate Stoner. Dovizioso extended his podium run to four races after third in the Netherlands and second at his home race at Mugello.

He finished second for the fourth time in 2011, in the Czech Republic; holding off pressure from Simoncelli.^[6] Two fifth places followed, before Dovizioso's only retirement of the season in Aragon, after crashing out. Dovizioso finished fifth in Japan, despite a ride-through penalty for jumping the start.^[7] Dovizioso finished third in Australia and Valencia, while the Malaysian race was cancelled after the death of Simoncelli in the first attempt to run the race.^[8]

He ended the season third behind Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner, but decided to move to the Tech 3 Yamaha team for the 2012 season, alongside Cal Crutchlow on a one-year deal. Dovizioso moved to the team after rejecting the offer of a satellite Honda bike,^[9] after Repsol Honda reverted to two bikes – for Stoner and Pedrosa – for the 2012 season.

Yamaha (2012)

Dovizioso achieved top-five placings in each of his first three starts for Tech 3, with fifth places in Qatar and at Jerez, as well as a fourth place at the Portuguese Grand Prix. A seventh place followed at Le Mans, before his first podium of the season – a third place – at the Catalan Grand Prix. After missing out on points at the British Grand Prix due to a crash, Dovizioso finished third or fourth in each of the next six races, with four podiums to maintain fourth place in the championship ahead of team-mate Crutchlow.

He won the Supermoto-Race on SIC Supermoto Day together with Mauno Hermunen, a race in honor of the memory of the Italian racer Marco Simoncelli, who also died in a race crash in 2011.

Ducati (2013–present)

2013

Ducati Desmosedici used by Dovizioso in the 2013 season

Following Valentino Rossi's move back to the factory Yamaha team, Dovizioso was signed by Ducati to replace Rossi in their factory team.^[10] Dovizioso had a difficult season on an under-performing Ducati Desmosedici, with a best placement of fourth in wet conditions at the French Grand Prix. He ended the season eighth, behind Stefan Bradl and just ahead of team-mate Nicky Hayden.

2014

Dovizioso at the 2014 French Grand Prix

Dovizioso was joined at Ducati by his former Tech 3 team-mate Cal Crutchlow, reuniting the riders that raced with Tech 3 in 2012. The season started in a positive way for Dovizioso, who obtained three top-five results in the first four races, including a third place in the Grand Prix of the Americas in Texas and claimed his first pole position with Ducati in Japan, his first pole position since 2010. He ended the season fifth in the riders' championship.

2015

Dovizioso remained at Ducati for a third successive season, where he was joined by fellow Italian rider, Andrea Iannone, who moved from Pramac Racing. He took the first pole position of the season in Qatar, out-qualifying the rest of the field by 0.2 seconds.^[11] In the race, he started well and battled with the factory Yamahas of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. He finished in second place behind Rossi,^[12] taking his first podium since the Dutch TT in June 2014. Team-mate Iannone finished just behind in third place, giving the factory team their first double podium finish since the 2010 Aragon Grand Prix. In the following two races, he finished in second position; he had a total of five podiums during the season, and finished seventh in the championship.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing career

By season

By class

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

• Official website
• Andrea Dovizioso on Twitter
  

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Andrea Dovizioso.

Ducati Team
2017 riders Andrea Dovizioso (04) Jorge Lorenzo (99)
Grand Prix motorcycle Ducati Desmosedici GP16
MotoGP World Champions Casey Stoner (2007)