Only Aprilia and Honda to choose from / MotoGP SPEEDWEEK.COM

The subject of Suzuki has been dealt with for Andrea Dovizioso. Yamaha has no specific plans to upgrade the test team. That is why the decision between Aprilia and Honda will be made with “Dovi”.

Nine out of 14 Grand Prix races were in the MotoGP class, and three-time vice world champion Andrea Dovizioso (34) still looks to an uncertain future. But the situation has changed in the last four weeks, because the test driver deals with Yamaha and Suzuki, which were still discussed in September, no longer seem to be an issue. At least with Suzuki, negotiations have now ended, as Dovizioso manager Simone Battistella admits.

For this, a contract with the Aprilia MotoGP works team is increasingly becoming a possibility. A few weeks ago it still seemed as if Aprilia could not meet Dovizioso’s financial expectations.

But yesterday Aprilia race director Massimo Rivola admitted straight away: “Dovi would be a unique opportunity.”

Apparently Piaggio Group owner Roberto Colaninno smelled a fuse. Apparently he would dig deeper into his pocket for Dovizioso than planned, because he likes nothing more than to wipe out his Italian arch-rival Ducati, and not only because Gigi Dall’Igna switched from Aprilia to Ducati as race director in October 2013 because he There were better chances there than finally winning the MotoGP World Championship as a designer and race director.

As a test driver at Yamaha, Suzuki or Honda, Dovi could complete a maximum of three wildcard appearances per season. A full season is of course more appealing to him, although Aprilia has so far assured that they would keep Andrea Iannone for 2021 if his doping ban is shortened from 18 to 12 months and he can drive again after December 2020.

Dovizioso had been put off forever by Ducati in the summer. The relationship with Gigi Dall’Igna had been shattered since the Sachsenring GP 2019, where the 15-time GP winner had openly denounced the Desmosedici’s weaknesses on certain routes. Four weeks later, Ducati wanted to lure the Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo away from HRC and put him in Pramac so that he could then be transferred back to the works team for 2021. Lorenzo had already been brought to Ducati for 2017 and 2018, for the dream fee of 12.5 million euros per season. But Dovi disenchanted him – for about 1 million per season.

Now Dovi is looking for a new job, because at the Spielberg GP on August 15th he made it clear: “I won’t be driving for Ducati after 2020.”

This saved him from further humiliation by the Reds, who hired drivers like Miller, Bagnaia, Jorge Martin and Bastianini, but who left undoubtedly the strongest driver by the wayside.

Old hand Dovizioso should have started the 2020 season with a hoped-for fixed salary of 4 million, but he had to take a hefty loss due to Corona. For 2021, Ducativor only offered him Ducati 2 million at the start of the season in July, it is said. The negotiations were therefore put on hold. They should only be resumed after the second Spielberg GP.

But Dovi put an end to the game.

But the alternatives didn’t look very tempting. Because at Red Bull KTM, Dovi was dismissed as a possible Pol Espargaró replacement in May because he demanded 4 million euros. Petrucci was preferred.

In the meantime, Suzuki has also dropped out as a new employer; Nobody really believes in a deal with Yamaha anymore. Yamaha runs the European test team with little effort; Jorge Lorenzo was not used for eight months. So far there are no concrete plans for a change, especially not at the time of Corona. The plans for 2021 will be discussed at the Aragón GP at the earliest, if project manager Sumi is allowed to end the quarantine in Andorra by then.

That means: For the time being, an Aprilia contract is in the foreground for Dovizioso. Should this plan fail, Plan B can be considered. So a test driver contract with Honda, including a maximum of three wildcard races in 2021.

Race result MotoGP Le Mans / F:

1. Danilo Petrucci, Ducati, 26 Runden in 45: 54.736 min
2. Alex Márquez, Honda, +1,273 sec
3. Pol Espargaró, KTM, +1,711
4. Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati, +3.911
5. Johann Zarco, Ducati, +4,310
6. Miguel Oliveira, KTM, +4,466
7. Takaaki Nakagami, Honda, +5,921
8. Stefan Bradl, Honda, +15,597
9. Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha, +16.687
10. Maverick Viñales, Yamaha, +16,895
11. Joan Mir, Suzuki, +16,980
12. Brad Binder, KTM, +27,321
13. Pecco Bagnaia, Ducati, +33.351
14. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, +39,176
15. Iker Lecuona, KTM, +51,087

Driver World Championship stand after 9 of 14 races:

1. Quartararo, 115 Punkte. 2. Mir 105. 3. Dovizioso 97. 4. Viñales 96. 5. Nakagami 81. 6. Morbidelli 77. 7. Miller 75. 8. Pol Espargaró 73. 9. Oliveira 69. 10. Petrucci 64. 11. Binder 62 12. Rins 60. 13. Rossi 58. 14. Alex Márquez 47. 15. Zarco 47. 16. Bagnaia 42. 17. Aleix Espargaró 24. 18. Lecuona 18. 19. Crutchlow 13. 20. Smith 11. 21. Bradl 8. 22. Rabat 8. 23. Pirro 4.

Constructors’ championship:

1. Yamaha, 170 Punkte. 2. Ducati 151. 3. KTM 125. 4. Suzuki 118. 5. Honda 92. 6. Aprilia 32.

Team-WM:

1. Petronas Yamaha SRT, 192 Punkte. 2. Team Suzuki Ecstar 165. 3. Ducati Team 161. 4. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 154. 5. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 135. 6. Pramac Racing 121. 7. LCR Honda 94. 8. Red Bull KTM Tech3 87. 9. Repsol Honda Team 55. 10. Esponsorama Racing 55. 11. Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 35.