Andrea Dovizioso produced another great performance today in the Dutch TT race at Assen to move to the top of the MotoGP championship standings. The Ducati Team’s Italian rider, who started from row 3 after qualifying ninth on Saturday, finished today’s eight round in fifth place as the half-way point of the season approaches. The last time a Ducati rider led the world championship table was the 2009 Italian Grand Prix with Casey Stoner.
After finishing the opening lap in seventh place, Dovizioso began a thrilling come-back which took him up to second on lap 21, when light rain began to fall on the Dutch circuit. After a terrific scrap with Rossi and Petrucci, who eventually finished first and second, the Italian rider was caught first by Marquez and then by Crutchlow and he finished his race in fifth without wishing to jeopardize his championship lead, especially in view of the tricky track surface conditions.
The next round of the championship is the German Grand Prix on Sunday at the Sachsenring circuit.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 3rd
“Today’s race was a very difficult one and having to start from row 3 complicated things a bit. At the start I wasn’t able to be very smooth and I lost touch with the leading group, but I remained focussed to see where I could recover and when Viñales crashed in front of me, I pushed hard to get back up with the leading group. At that moment I was the quickest on the track and this is a good sign for our bike. When I came up on the leaders it started to rain but you couldn’t really see where the track was dry and where it wasn’t. For this reason I didn’t want to take any risks and I tried to finish the race in the best possible way to score some valuable points for the championship. We go back home in the lead of the table and it’s a new emotion for me because I’ve never been in the lead of MotoGP. I want to thank all my team because this weekend we again worked really well and despite the constantly changeable weather conditions, we made the right decisions, we stayed calm and in this end it all paid off.”