Dovi, Petrucci out to finish on a high, teams' title decider

If Andrea Dovizioso claims six points or more in this weekend's Valencia season finale, 2019 will have been his highest-scoring season in MotoGP (helped by a 19th race).

The Italian has already sealed the runner-up spot behind Marc Marquez for a third successive season, despite his win tally shrinking to two races, compared with four victories in 2018 and six in 2017.

But Dovizioso and team-mate Danilo Petrucci are still fighting for the last remaining 2019 title, with Ducati leading the teams' standings by just two points over Repsol Honda.

If Ducati can hang on this weekend, it will be their first MotoGP teams' championship since 2007. In the Constructors’ standings, Honda is already champion, while Ducati holds second place by just one-point over Yamaha.

"The Cheste circuit has never been really easy for us, even though it’s true that last year we scored a great win in rainy conditions, which proved that anything can happen," said Dovizioso, who had been absent from the Valencia podium since 2011.

"Personally speaking, I really want to finish the season with a good result and safe in the knowledge that we gave our all right until the very end.

"The level of the championship is getting higher all the time, and we’ve seen this in the last three races outside of Europe, but I have confidence in the good job we’re doing to finish the championship on a high."

While Dovizioso already knows where he will finish the season, Petrucci is in the thick of a three-way battle for fifth, which he leads by four points from Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha) and ten points over Valentino Rossi (Monster Yamaha).

"For me this race is very important, because after a rather complicated second half of the season I want to finish the year with a good result," said the Mugello winner, who has been without a podium since Catalunya.

"I don’t think we are that far away, but we still have to resolve a few details to be more competitive in the race.

"Valencia is a circuit that I like, and in the last few days I’ve managed to recover well from the consequences of the crash in Australia, so I think we can do a good race."

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Asked about the teams' title battle with Repsol Honda - which is really just Marquez at the moment - during an exclusive interview with Crash.net, Petrucci replied:

"For sure it's another key to read the championship, I mean Marc is fighting alone with me and Andrea. At the beginning of the season we had a bigger points margin on Marc but in the last races we have been quite in difficulty, especially on my side, so I was not able to gain a lot of points.

"Anyway, the teams' title is the only title we can still win and we will try the maximum. For sure I have to improve because Dovi is doing good and I want to come back to the feeling I had at the beginning of the championship."

Test rider Michele Pirro will make his latest wild-card appearance this weekend, at the circuit where he took his only Moto2 victory, in2011.

"I come to Valencia with good memories of fourth place last year, when we did a fantastic job. The conditions this year will certainly be different, but once again I can’t wait to race with the Desmosedici GP," said Pirro, who has been helping to develop next year's GP20.

"In the last two seasons we’ve always finished this race in the top 10 and although the level is much higher this year and all the other riders have surely done more mileage in races than me, a finish inside the top 10 could be a good target for my weekend."