The Grand Prix of Portugal ended today for Andrea Dovizioso in a crash, which was poor reward for the effort and skill he displayed during the first half of the race. Dovi started well from seventh on the grid to battle through his fellow competitors to join the lead group of four riders, which soon pulled away from the chasing pack.
Andrea and his Honda RC212V were not dropped by the Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi or the Honda of Dani Pedrosa, showing that Andrea was able to maintain an excellent rhythm, even if the track was not in the best condition thanks to the overnight rain and the spots of rain which arrived during the race.
Sadly, 12 laps from the end during a hard-braking section of the track he lost the front-end of his 800cc Honda and he was out of the race. For Andrea this has been very important experience, as he was able to have a pace in the race even quicker than during practice and this makes Estoril an important step forward in the growth of the JiR Team Scot rider. Tomorrow the team will remain here for a test day after the to try several solutions in order to increase the performance of their technical package.
Luca Montiron – Team Director, JiR Team Scot“What Andrea did today in Portugal has to be considered a good day – despite the crash – as it shows he’s able to stay with the top riders. He showed skill and a lot of determination for more than half the race and with everyone riding in very tricky conditions he was able to display a rhythm that only the other three riders ahead were able to maintain. I’m sure this will be a race very important for the experience of Andrea in MotoGP and he was able to demonstrate a lot of character and determination to the other riders.”
Cirano Mularoni– Team Manager, JiR Team Scot“From the start Andrea was able to maintain a good rhythm and stick with the leading group. At this point we had two chances: to try harder and go for the podium or maintain position and keep a safe fourth place. I agree with Andrea’s tactics. He was always pushing, trying hard to get a big result and the crash is just something that has changed the names on the results sheet. Up until that point it was still a fantastic race for us. From the technical point of view we are OK and ready for the next race.”
Andrea Dovizioso – Rider, JiR Team Scot MotoGP
HONDA RC212VDNF – 6th best lap: 1’ 37.985”
“I did a very good race and this makes me happy. I was able to maintain an astonishing rhythm and was half a second under my pace from the practice sessions. I never give up, as I want to try to stay with the lead group and get a good result for the team and myself. My performances are improving, not only at the start of the weekend but also in the race. To be behind the top three riders was a great experience and I understood and learned a lot of things. We have to use at the maximum the potential of our Honda and find the correct chassis and engine tuning to keep this quick rhythm during whole race without being at the complete limit, which I was at today. The crash was only because I was pushing at the very maximum, entering the corner so very hard and so I lost grip at the front. Even if there were a lot of drops of rain around this didn’t alter our performance. With my performance I don’t t hink I can blame myself, these things happen. Tomorrow we will stay for a test day as we are still working on our technical configuration to do better next time. I want to really thank the team for the work done this weekend.”
