Andrea Dovizioso finished the GP de la Comunitat Valenciana, held today at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Cheste, in fourth place. The Ducati Team man, who started from the second row of the grid, after passing Rins on lap 5 began to chase down the Ducati Pramac of Miller but in the end had to settle for fourth position, which he defended from the Suzuki rider’s attacks to the chequered flag.
A crash on lap 14 instead put an end to Danilo Petrucci’s race. The Italian, after losing several positions at the start, was working his way back up the field with a pace that was in line with the frontrunners, but unfortunately, after passing Rossi, he crashed at Turn 6 and had to abandon the race. Petrucci finished sixth overall in the 2019 championship, his best ever end-of-season result in MotoGP.
Michele Pirro’s race was undermined right from the start when he began to feel ill, so he decided to return to the pits and pull in at the end of the fourth lap.
The Ducati Team finished the season second in the Teams Classification, with Ducati classified third in the Constructors standings.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 4th
“All in all I’m happy with our speed in the race: our pace was very constant and in the end the gap to Marquez wasn’t very big. I tried to catch Miller for third but he was riding very well and was quicker than me in several places, so he deserved the podium. I’m satisfied with the way we finished the season because both at Sepang and here at Valencia we were fast. We have confirmed a solid second place, unfortunately with a very big gap from Marquez in the standings, but also with a large gap over the third-placed rider, despite two zeros at Barcelona and Silverstone that were not our fault”.
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Ducati Team) – DNF
“That was really a pity, because it was an important race for the team. Unfortunately, at the start the launch control failed to engage so I lost a lot of positions right away. I was making up places over the next few laps, and my pace was really good, but unfortunately after passing Rossi I crashed without understanding the reason why. I feel bad about ending the championship in this way, but in any case it is still the best season in my career in MotoGP: I know I must still improve in a number of different areas but now I can’t wait for the new season to start”.
Michele Pirro (#51 Ducati Test Team) – DNF
“For sure it wasn’t a positive Sunday for us: my race was ruined right from the start when I didn’t feel well. Already on the sighting lap I had a drop in my blood pressure and when I started the race I felt sick, so I decided to return to the pits and pull in. I’m disappointed because my target was to finish in the top 10 and I felt I could have achieved it and maybe do even better. Unfortunately, that’s the way things went, we’ll try again next year”.
The MotoGP riders will be back out on track again on Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th of this week for two days of testing at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, which officially mark the start of the 2020 championship season.
