The Repsol rider fought from the first lap to the last for first place in the Malaysian Grand Prix, finally claiming second.
The Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix witnessed an intense fight at the front, where Andrea Dovizioso and his Repsol Honda RC212V battled with the two Yamahas of Rossi and Lorenzo. The Italian Repsol Honda Team rider ended this battle with another second place in the World Championship. The Repsol rider put in a very consistent Grand Prix, fighting with Valentino Rossi for victory until the last metre, Rossi eventually winning by just 224 milliseconds.
When the red lights went out, the Repsol rider climbed a position and reached the first turn in second, behind Jorge Lorenzo. Lap-by-lap, the two riders opened a gap with the chasing group until Dovizioso took the lead in the eighth. At this point, Valentino Rossi had climbed up to third and took just one lap to place himself on Dovizioso’s wheel.
Mid-race, the two Italians swapped positions and although Rossi tried to break away, the Repsol Honda Team rider stayed in his trail. Five laps from the end, Dovizioso launched another attack and passed Rossi again. However, it was not for long, as before finishing the lap, Rossi had responded and did let himself be taken by surprise again up to the chequered flag. Andrea crossed the finish line hot on his heels – just 224 milliseconds behind his fellow Italian –, and a few seconds ahead of Jorge Lorenzo, who was proclaimed 2010 MotoGP World Championship today.
Dani Pedrosa
“I think it’s very good for Spain to have another world champion in the top class after Alex Crivillé’s first title back in 1999. That was a long time ago… too long. So I’d like to say congratulations to Lorenzo today. He rode very well this year right from the beginning of the season and made very few mistakes – so he deserves the title.
Of course, I would like to have been there today to try and keep the championship alive for a bit longer – even if we only had a very small chance of catching him. But it wasn’t to be. My recovery and physiotherapy after the operation is continuing to go well, and I hope to feel good enough for Australia and to get back to the level we achieved recently for the last races of the season”.
Andrea Dovizioso, 2nd at 0,224 sec. >> Audio
“I’m very happy with this second place today and it was a great race. We have been fighting for the victory at the last two races at two very different tracks, and also in different conditions, so this is really positive. I tried to stay close to Valentino on the last lap but in the final braking area I wasn’t close enough to take him in the middle of the corner, even though he was too late on the brakes and went wide. Anyway, this result for Honda, Repsol and my team is really important.
Last year we were 40 seconds behind the winner in the race here, so to be just 0.2s behind means we’ve moved forward a lot. Also, in the middle of the season, we weren’t on the podium for a long time, so to be back in the top three is very important for us. We have to be happy because this was almost a win, and the riders in front of me are changing at each race, which means we have better consistency. We are happy and I’d like to say thank you to Honda and my crew. From the middle of the season until now we improved a lot because of the hard work of a great team”
