Maintaining good form the goal for Dovizioso

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

Having only once failed to score points in his rookie MotoGP season JiR Team Scot´s Andrea Dovizioso is aiming for another good result at round seventeen.

With only two races to go in his rookie premier class campaign the highly consistent Andrea Dovizioso will aim to continue a solid run of results which extends back to his only DNF of the year, in April at Estoril.

That crash in Portugal and his eleventh place finish at the subsequent race in China are the only rounds at which Dovizioso has failed to finish in the top ten in 2008 and while the podium has eluded him, he has been fourth on three occasions and earned four top five finishes – competently learning each track on the 800cc Honda RC212V.

Having earned a move onto factory HRC machinery with Repsol Honda next season the young Italian has two remaining races left with factory outfit JiR Team Scot, starting with this weekend´s Polini Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

Returning to the scene where he clinched the title in the single cylinder class with a second place finish in the 2004 GP, Dovizioso has an otherwise unspectacular record in Malaysia, another second place in the 2006 250cc race being his only other result of note there.

Nonetheless he hopes that the positive test visits he experienced in November 2007 and in January this year, as he learned how to ride the 800cc, will provide him the tools to do well at the hot, humid and demanding Asian venue this time around.

`Sepang is a very nice circuit, I enjoy the track very much and with the MotoGP bike it is really fun,´ Dovizioso said. `The two straights are characteristic of the track, which require a high performance engine.´

He continued, `I have already done tests here before the championship started, so I know what I will encounter and how to address this weekend, which – even with our technical package – will be challenging. Let´s hope we can aim for the good result which we deserve.´

Meanwhile, JiR Team Scot Team Manager Cirano Mularoni added, `Our visit to Sepang will be a good opportunity for Andrea to confirm his recent good form. On paper it does not appear as a good circuit for us but we remember Malaysia in 2004 when we obtained the 125cc World title with Andrea there. With this in mind, I consider this track our friend!´