Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati clinched second place in the 2018 MotoGP Riders’ and Constructors’ championships today following a sixth-place finish by the Italian rider in the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix at Sepang. Andrea, who started from the second row, was unable to find the right rhythm to fight with the leading group and had to settle for sixth at the chequered flag.
Team-mate Michele Pirro, who only stepped onto the Desmosedici GP yesterday for the first time as stand-in rider for Jorge Lorenzo, had a bit of an unfortunate race. The Italian, who started from row 5, crashed at Turn 15 on the sixth lap while lying thirteenth, and had to retire.
The next and final round of the 2018 MotoGP season is the Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Cheste from 16th to 18th November.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 6th
“I have to admit that today I’m disappointed because I wasn’t able to do the race I expected and suffered a lot with a lack of grip. As I said on Thursday, I had hoped for a dry race because we have always gone well in testing and practice in these conditions, but today I really struggled a lot and now we have to understand exactly what happened. In the end, thanks to Rossi’s error, we succeeded in taking home second place overall both in the Riders’ and Constructors’ standings, and I’m happy with this result even though this year we weren’t really able to oppose Marquez. I wish to thank the team because we have managed to do a great job, especially from mid-season onwards, but it’s not enough and we will still have to continue to work with commitment.”
Michele Pirro (Ducati Team #51) – DNF
“The fact that I only did one session on a dry track, with the race today being dry, for sure put me at a bit of a disadvantage. I started quite well and bit by bit was making up places when I lost the front at the last corner, probably because I pushed a bit too hard, and I crashed. I didn’t expect that to happen because I was trying to do a consistent race. I’m sorry for the team, and it’s a pity to finish the race in this way, because I could have got into the top 10 and instead I wasn’t able to bring home any points for the team.”
