Dovizioso to use Ohlins suspension from Misano.

Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso will switch to Ohlins suspension on his factory RC212V for this weekend's San Marino Grand Prix and the rest of the 2009 season.

The decision to change from Showa, a subsidiary of Honda, follows a back-to-back test between the two brands after the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic at Brno in the middle of August.

Honda with Ohlins forks, Brno MotoGP Test 2009
Honda with Ohlins forks, Brno MotoGP Test 2009
© Gold and Goose

Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso will switch to Ohlins suspension on his factory RC212V for this weekend's San Marino Grand Prix and the rest of the 2009 season.

The decision to change from Showa, a subsidiary of Honda, follows a back-to-back test between the two brands after the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic at Brno in the middle of August.

Showa has given its consent to the switch.

Dovizioso took his first MotoGP win, with Showa, in the damp Donington Park round earlier this year, but that is his only podium finish of the season so far.

Team-mate Dani Pedrosa will continue to run with Showa suspension, which he has used with considerable success since his MotoGP debut in 2006, including seven premier-class wins - the last of which was at the US Grand Prix in July.

The satellite LCR squad is the only RC212V team already running Ohlins, but Ohlins is used by all of Honda's MotoGP rivals - Yamaha, Ducati, Suzuki and Kawasaki (Hayate).

After twelve of 17 rounds, Pedrosa is fourth in the world championship, with Dovizioso sixth.

Ohlins founder Kenth Ohlin bought back 95% of the company from Yamaha in December 2007.

Read More