Successful end to busy weekend for Andrea Dovizioso

Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso had an eventful time at his home Grand Prix, which ended with him moving up to fifth place in the championship.

The Gran Premio Cinzano di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini was an important weekend for Andrea Dovizioso, with the highly gifted young Italian being confirmed as a Repsol Honda rider for 2010 before Sunday’s race - in front of a passionate Italian crowd.

Dovizioso’s hometown of Forli is a one hour drive (75km) drive from the Misano circuit and he had plenty of friends and family members looking on from the stands as he successfully battled with another popular Italian in the final stages, eventually outpacing the veteran Suzuki rider on the final lap to take fourth place by two-tenths of a second.

Dovizioso had worked diligently over the course of the weekend to incorporate his new Ohlins suspension system onto the factory RC212V, meaning that he appeared not to be riding at 100% until the race itself, having qualified down in eighth place.

Dovizioso seems to be a specialist a finishing fourth, having now done so on six occasions this year, thrice in the last three races, but this time the result was enough to lift him above crasher Colin Edwards in the standings into fifth position overall.

Summarising his home GP, Dovizioso stated, “I’m reasonably happy with this weekend. This was the first time with Ohlins and of course we couldn’t have the perfect set-up but this is just the start and I’m very confident for the future. I’m happy too because I renewed my contract with Honda. This is my first year in the factory Honda team and I feel that I still haven’t shown my full potential. I know the machine better now and we are working together in preparation for next year.”

Describing his race, he commented, I pushed 100 per cent in the first laps. I had a good feeling with the bike but unfortunately on lap seven I made a mistake at turn 11 and I lost contact with the front riders. This mistake compromised the race as after that I couldn’t stay with the leaders. In the last laps I had quite a battle with Capirossi for fourth place. He was braking very hard but in the end I passed him and closed every gap so that he couldn’t get past again.

Andrea Dovizioso Biography

Andrea Dovizioso: Biography of a World Champion
Birth date: 23/03/1986
Birth place: Forli, ITA
First Grand Prix: 2001 ITA 125cc
First Pole Position 2003 FRA 125cc
First Race Fastest Lap 2004 FRA 125cc
First Podium 2003 RSA 125cc
First GP Victory 2004 RSA 125cc
Grand Prix Starts: 47
125cc Starts: 47
Grand Prix Victories: 4
125cc Victories: 4
2nd Placements: 6
3rd placements: 3
Podium: 13
Pole Positions: 8
Race Fastest Lap: 2
World Championship wins: 1
2004 125cc
Total Points: 447

Having started out on a minibike at the age of seven, Andrea Dovizioso won the Italian Junior B category in 1997 and 1998 before finishing runner-up in the Senior A category in 2000. After winning the Aprilia Challenge in 2000, when he also made his Grand Prix debut as a wildcard riding an Aprilia at Mugello, the youngster was snapped up by Team Scot to ride a Honda in the 125cc World Championship in 2002. Dovizioso's professional career got off to a discreet start, with a best finish of ninth in his debut season, but he scored fifth in the first round of 2003 and took his first ever podium at the next race in South Africa. Three more podiums followed that season and the youngster was promoted to a factory ride for 2004, inheriting the machine which had taken Daniel Pedrosa to the title. MotoGP CAREER 2001: World Championship debut at the 125cc Italian GP riding an Aprilia as a wildcard rider. 2002: First full season in the 125cc Championship riding a Honda for the Scot Racing Team. Final Championship position: 16th with 42 points 2003: Second season riding a Honda for the Team Scot. Championship position: 5th with 157 points. Takes his first podium in South Africa. 2004: Wins his first 125cc World Championship for the Kopron Team Scot. Championship position: 1st with 248 points after 14 of 16 rounds. Four wins: South Africa, France, Great Britain and Japan. Other facts about Dovizioso's career: - Dovizioso is the fourth youngest World Champion in the history of Grand Prix racing, behind Loris Capirossi, Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi. - Not since Haruchika Aoki won the title in 1995 has any other rider led the championship all the way through the year. - Dovizioso has started from pole seven times this year. Only two other riders have had more than a single pole position - Marco Simoncelli and Jorge Lorenzo, who have two each. - No other rider in the 125cc class has won more races and had more podium finishes than Dovizioso this season.