Andrea Dovizioso Life's Journey

Andrea Dovizioso (born March 23, 1986 in Forlimpopoli, Italy) is a professional motorcycle road racer. He won the 125cc World Championship in 2004.

Career

125cc

In 2001 Dovizioso won the 125cc European Championship and also competed in his first World Championship race at Mugello, in which he retired. In 2002 he competed in the 125cc World Championship with Team Scot Honda, finishing 16th in the final standings. His best results were two 9th places in Le Mans and Donington. He continued with the team in 2003, finishing 5th in the final standings and achieving four podium finishes. The 2004 season saw him pick up five victories and six other podium finishes on his way to winning the championship with 293 points.

250cc

In 2005 Dovizioso moved to the 250cc class, continuing with Team Scot Honda. The season included five podium finishes and 3rd place in the overall standings. He also won the Rookie of the Year award. In 2006 he stayed with the team, who were now renamed as Humangest Racing. He won two races in Barcelona and Estoril and finished on the podium 11 times. He fought for the championship until the final race of the season, but had to settle for 2nd place behind Jorge MotoGP

2008

On 15 September 2007, Dovizioso announced that he would be making the move up to the MotoGP class with his existing team in 2008.^[1] On his premier class debut, Dovizioso achieved a highly credible fourth place, at the season opener in Qatar, passing Valentino Rossi on the last lap. Throughout the season Dovi was one of the most consistent Honda riders, placing 4th and 5th several times, and achieving a 3rd place podium finish at the Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang. Dovizioso finished 5th in the final standings.

2009

For the 2009 season, Dovizioso became an official Repsol Honda rider replacing Nicky Hayden and partnering Spain's Dani Pedrosa. In July 2009, Dovizioso won his first race in MotoGP at the British Grand Prix in wet conditions at Donington Park. Despite otherwise consistent points finishes, Dovizioso ended up with less points than in his début season in the class, ending up sixth in the final standings.

2010

Dovizioso had a strong start to his second season with the Repsol Honda team picking up a podium in the season-opening race in Qatar. Three more podiums followed early in the year before his results tailed off mid season. Despite this, Dovizioso consistently racked up points and claimed his first pole position in MotoGP at the Japanese Grand Prix at Twin Ring Motegi. He went on to finish second in the race after challenging for the race win, equalling his result from the British Grand Prix; Dovizioso again finished second in the following race in Malaysia. Dovizioso retired in Australia, and concluded the season with third in Portugal and fifth in Valencia to finish fifth in the final championship standings.

2011

Dovizioso remained with Repsol Honda for a third consecutive season in 2011, riding in a three-bike team alongside Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa. Dovizioso started the season well, with a fourth place in Qatar after a race-long battle with Marco Simoncelli. At Jerez, Dovizioso experienced severe tyre wear and had to make a tyre change on his way to 12th place in the damp conditions. He took fourth place in Portugal, with a late-race pass on Valentino Rossi, before Le Mans saw Dovizioso's best performance of the season to that point. Having circulated in sixth for a portion of the race, he was helped by the collision between Pedrosa and Simoncelli, which saw Pedrosa crash out and Simoncelli given a ride-through penalty. He then passed Jorge Lorenzo and Rossi en route to a second place finish. Fourth place followed in Catalunya, before another second place in Great Britain, having started fifth and led the first few laps before being overtaken by team-mate Stoner. Dovizioso extended his podium run to four races after third in the Netherlands and second at his home race at Mugello.
He finished second for the fourth time in 2011, in the Czech Republic; holding off pressure from Simoncelli Two fifth places followed, before Dovizioso's only retirement of the season in Aragon, after crashing out. Dovizioso finished fifth in Japan, despite a ride-through penalty for jumping the start. Dovizioso finished third in Australia and Valencia, while the Malaysian race was cancelled after the death of Simoncelli in the first attempt to run the race.
He ended the season third behind Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner, but decided to move to the Tech 3 Yamaha team for the 2012 season, alongside Cal Crutchlow on a one year deal. Dovizioso moved to the team after rejecting the offer of a satellite Honda bike, after Repsol Honda reverted to two bikes – for Stoner and Pedrosa – for the 2012 season.

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