Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso has revealed in an interview with Italian broadcaster Sky that former team Honda were close to re-signing him for the 2017 season.
Dovizioso formed part of the factory Honda squad’s line-up alongside Dani Pedrosa, and later Casey Stoner, from 2009 through to 2011. The Italian tallied up 15 podiums in his time with Repsol Honda, including a maiden victory at Donington Park in 2009.
After a year at the satellite Tech 3 Yamaha team in 2012 when HRC scaled its factory effort down to two riders, Dovizioso joined Ducati for the 2013 season.
His debut season at Bologna proved to be tough, but a change in leadership and the resulting reshuffling of the race department saw Dovizioso and Ducati become regular podium contenders from 2014, and grand prix winners in 2016.
Dovizioso was chosen to partner Jorge Lorenzo for 2017, but had Maverick Vinales not made the switch to Yamaha the Italian may very well have been riding alongside Marc Marquez on a factory RC213V this year. He also admits Suzuki was an option.
“We came close (to signing) with Honda,” the Italian said to Sky Italia.
“It depended on what others did, but with Honda we were very close. But it depended on Vinales’ decision. Anyway, there was also definitely Suzuki (as a possible destination).
“The reason I came close to a deal with Honda is that, in reality, they remember the work I did during those years we were together, even if I’m no longer the 21-year-old to bet on for the future, they know what I can bring.”
Rumours during last year’s ‘silly season’ strongly linked Pedrosa to Yamaha, but, as all the pieces fell into place, the Spaniard signed a two-year extension with Honda. However, Dovizioso’s latest revelation suggests that there was more truth to this than originally thought.
