Dovi keeps his cool
O Ducati man takes win in two-part red flagged race
Andrea Dovizioso won a crash-strewn final race of the season in treacherous conditions at the Valencian Grand Prix. He finished ahead of Alex Rins and an impressive debut KTM podium for Pol Espargaro after the two-part race saw 12 riders crash in the torrential rain. Dovizioso hunted down Alex Rins not once but twice as red flags stopped the race halfway through, taking his season’s fourth win in the second 14-lap race by nearly three seconds. Admitting conditions were so bad he was prepared to let Rins take the lead in the early stages, Dovizioso’s clever strategy with limited Michelin tyre allocation enabled him to take the win. “Alex started too fast and I decided it was too much. But I realised I had some margin to play with until conditions became so bad, I was pleased just to stay on until the end of the first race! But we were smart in warm-up and didn’t use a new tyre, so we had a spare for the second start and that’s what let us win.”
But with so many fallers, including Marc Marquez, Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi, riders were vocal about how long it took for the red flags to come out in the first place. Speaking afterwards to MCN, It may have been one of the toughest seasons in Valentino Rossi’s illustrious career, but he was still able to secure third in the series standings despite crashing out of second position for the second time in two races.
“The feeling was very bad, because the conditions were tricky with four laps to go. There was a lot of water and it was quite dangerous. There was one moment during the second race where it was quite dangerous too. Pramac Ducati rider Jack Miller, generally one of the fastest in the wet, was particularly outspoken. “It was a joke. They should have stopped the race before they did. I was listening to bikes spinning up on the straight. We pushed the safety commission this week to get them to put out the red flags when the rain comes down, but it seems they just wanted to get to three “I made a mistake for sure, but we also need to look at the data because it was a very similar crash to Malaysia, losing the rear when I opened the throttle. It seems like we still need to pay more attention in the final laps because the tyre is still very critical then.
“Until that moment I enjoyed it, because I was strong, and I remained in third place in the championship, which is important.” quarters distance so they could call it a result.
“It was the worst conditions and it should have been stopped five laps earlier, because then guys like Marquez and Viñales wouldn’t have fallen. It was so bad it was more a case of where we weren’t aquaplaning and visibility was so bad you were blind on the straights.”
Rossi is third overall despite crash