MOTOGP » ANDREA DOVIZIOSO
CAREER
Andrea Dovizioso finished his first MotoGP season just 16 points behind top rookie Jorge Lorenzo, while fifth position in the 2008 world championship standings made him the top satellite rider.
While Lorenzo experienced massive highs and lows during his first premier-class season, former 250GP title rival Dovizioso delivered an impressive mix of mistake-free speed and consistency - just as he had done in the lower classes.
Dovizioso scored points in all but one round for JiR Team Scot and thoroughly deserved his debut podium at Sepang.
Dovizioso's impressive achievements with a valve-spring Michelin-shod RCV have been rewarded with a factory Repsol Honda ride for 2009, alongside Dani Pedrosa.
The smooth-riding star from Forli in Italy began riding at seven and had won two Italian National mini-bike championships by the time he was nine. He also scooped a mini-MX championship too, proving a remarkably versatile competitor. So versatile in fact, that he was compelled to make a choice between tarmac racing, off-road racing and football at the age of ten.
He opted for the asphalt and soon justified that choice with a resounding performance in the Italian Aprilia Challenge series in 2000. He won his first race in that Championship first time out at Misano, and led the series throughout. Securing the overall title proved a formality.
Dovi was now on his way to a grand prix debut in the Italian round at Mugello in 2001. After recording an encouraging 11th fastest time on Saturday morning free training, his engine seized in the final timed session. He was then forced to start at the back of the grid and couldn’t make much of an impression in the race.
A first full season riding for Team Scot in 2002 proved entirely satisfactory. Andrea finished 16th overall and then improved to fifth overall in 2003, taking his first ever podium with a second place in South Africa. This was the start of his inexorable march to the title in 2004.
His habit of taking a hold on a Championship and not letting go, as he showed in his winning Aprilia Cup season, served him again in 2004. Dovi led throughout the season from his dominant showing in South Africa when he set pole and won a resounding victory. He never finished lower than fourth in 16 races and not since Haruchika Aoki won the 125cc World Championship in 1995 has any rider led the title race throughout the whole year.
And Dovizioso’s two runner-up 250cc seasons in 2006 and 2007, when his Honda rarely looked a match for Lorenzo’s Aprilia, showed the steely resolve and refusal to yield that characterises this quiet and unassuming individual.
