Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo were classified sixth and ninth respectively in the GP of the Americas, the third round of the MotoGP World Championship which was held today at COTA, the Texan circuit on the outskirts of Austin.
Dovizioso, who was starting from row 3 with seventh-quickest time in qualifying, crossed the line at the end of the opening lap in eighth place and then passed Lorenzo and moved up to sixth. The Italian rider administered the race to bring his Desmosedici GP machine home in the same position at the chequered flag.
Lorenzo, who started from the second row with sixth quickest time, was sixth at the end of lap 1 but was then passed by Dovizioso on the following lap. The Spanish rider kept the same position until lap 18, but was then passed by Iannone and Petrucci towards the end of the race and he finished in ninth place.
Dovizioso now lies fourth in the overall standings with 30 points, while Lorenzo is thirteenth on 12 points.
The MotoGP World Championship will be back in action on the weekend of 5-7 May at Jerez de la Frontera, for the first European round of the 2017 season.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 6th
“This was a difficult weekend and also in the race we never had the pace that we had hoped for. Pity, because I expected more from this GP, but the result confirms that unfortunately we still have a lot more work to do in order to resolve certain limits of our bike and to be able to stay up there ahead with our rivals at every circuit.”
Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) – 9th
“All in all, the race went better than I expected, at least regarding my pace over practice and qualifying. For sure we cannot be satisfied with the final position, because our target is certainly much higher, but in feeling and pace we made a small step forward in this race. It all went more or less how I expected until the front tyre began to have some graining and I lost touch with Dovizioso. Without this problem, I think I could have finished the race right behind him but the situation got worse over the last few laps and both Iannone and Petrucci passed me, so I lost out on seventh right at the end.”
