Andrea Dovizioso is remaining positive after the recent announcement that Jorge Lorenzo will be joining the Ducati team for the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
The Italian spoke in the pre-race press conference ahead of the fourth round of the MotoGP, set to take place this weekend in at the Jerez circuit in Spain.
Dovizioso has had rotten luck at the last two rounds. Towards the end of the race at the second round of the MotoGP in Argentina, Dovizioso was set to take a podium place before his teammate crashed out taking the Italian with him. The only points he could salvage towards his championship were the three he claimed after he picked his bike up and ran with it across the line after finishing in thirteenth place.
It was a case of ‘deja vu’ for the Ducati rider at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin as Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa also crashed and took Dovizioso out of contention; this time, he was unable to complete the race. Dovizioso reflected on the previous rounds.
“We did a great start in Qatar with a good result. The reality was we had the speed in the first three races and we had the chances to finish all three races in the podium so we have to look at that as that’s the reality.”
Yamaha and Ducati recently announced that Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo will be making the switch to the ‘red camp’ after signing a two year contract with the Ducati team. This has meant that Dovizioso’s place on the team may now be at risk as they have to make way for the Spaniard. However, Dovizioso remained positive and praised the performance of the Ducati, something he feels is attracting championship contenders to the team.
“Now Ducati become strong, I’m really happy about that because it means in the last four years we did a great job and Ducati have a chance to bring a world champion into Ducati next year and this is really positive for Ducati.”
Dovizioso told the media that he felt relaxed about the situation ahead of him as he feels his results and performance will help in convincing Ducati that he is the man to remain with the Italian team with Lorenzo.
”The bike is good, the relationship with Ducati is good, they know very well what I did for them in these four years. I’m relaxed about that, like I did in the first three races I’m focusing on the results. This is the most important thing.”
