The Argentina GP got off to a difficult start today as changeable weather conditions at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit forced the Race Direction to delay the start after all the riders had lined up on the grid, and the distance to cover was reduced to 24 laps as a result.
Andrea Dovizioso, who was starting from row 3, crossed the line at the end of the opening lap in seventh place, and then moved up to fifth by the mid-point. The Ducati Team’s Italian rider was then passed by the two Yamaha men and by Marquez but, thanks also to a crash involving Rossi and the Honda rider and the subsequent penalty handed out to the Spaniard, he finished his race in sixth place.
In the overall standings Dovizioso is now lying in second place on 35 points, three behind today’s race winner and provisional points leader Crutchlow.
It was a difficult race for Jorge Lorenzo, who started from row 5. The rider from Mallorca was never able to get a good feeling with these track conditions and he finished the Argentina GP down in fifteenth place.
MotoGP will next be back on track in a fortnight’s time in the United States, at the modern Circuit of the Americas facility near Austin, Texas.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 6th
“It was a really difficult weekend for us, but in the end we managed to take home some good points on a day in which we weren’t quick enough to fight for the podium. I’m happy with the way I managed my race, but in certain conditions and on certain tracks we must still improve because clearly we’re not quick enough. The fact that we didn’t get many laps in the dry over the weekend didn’t help us with setting the bike up but if we look at things from another point of view, I was lucky because three riders fighting for the championship scored three zeroes for different reasons. We go back home quite calm about things, but this weekend showed us that we still have to continue to work on different aspects of our bike.”
Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) – 15th
“Today’s conditions were the worst possible for me, the ones where I feel most ill-at-ease: having to ride with slicks when the track still has wet patches. In addition, starting from row 5 certainly didn’t help me much and, as I was in the middle of the group at the first curve, I had to try and avoid crashing out like last year. Afterwards I tried to make up some positions and when the track finally dried out, I began to lap with good times, something that I hadn’t done at all throughout the weekend and my feeling improved. I go away from Argentina with this little positive aspect that gives me the motivation to arrive at Austin and find the way to finally be quick.”
