Dovizioso assures that "there is no regret" for anyone other than Aprilia

April 8, 2022

Ducati did not renew Andrea Dovizioso’s contract beyond 2020, and after being left without a team last year, the Italian was invited by Aprilia to test the RS-GP in order to convince him to embrace Noale’s project.

From the first moment, Dovi already warned that “racing with Aprilia this year is not in the plan”, even though Aleix Espargaró tried to convince him to take the step and become his teammate.

Aprilia and Dovizioso even signed a contract as a test rider, whose figure is speculated to have been absolutely exorbitant as a sign of the great interest of the Italian house in convincing the rider, who never fell in love with Noale ‘s bike.

In August of last year, after a few days of testing that the technicians described as “useless” for the development of the motorcycle, Dovizioso announced his signing by Yamaha to ride in the then Petronas team, ensuring for 2022 a factory motorcycle with the current RFN.

The current situation is that the Aprilia wins and leads the World Championship, while the Yamaha riders wander through the championship without managing to make the M1 work.

“There is no regret,” Dovizioso assured this Thursday when asked if he had now thought better of declining the signing for Aprilia.

“But not because I don’t want to continue with Aprilia. On the contrary, I am very happy with the result they have achieved, because in the short time I was with them I saw that there is a relaxed and productive atmosphere, so I am very satisfied. I also want to congratulate to Aleix, because in the end he has brought the bike to the goal. I am very happy for Aprilia”, he assured.

Dovizioso , somewhat uncomfortable with the questions about it, wanted to make it clear that a bike that wins does not automatically make a rider get it.

“There are more examples that make you see that you need a combination of things to get a result. Are we going to say that Maverick Viñales is not strong? That would be blasphemy. Now he is slower than Aleix, but he is a top driver. Aleix He won because he has been with this bike for many years and has followed its evolution since they were not competitive”, he valued.

Another factor that the Italian did not neglect was the adaptation that the riders must make to the bikes to achieve success.

“It also depends a lot on the characteristics of the bike. When I was at Ducati, I was the first to get on the bike and be able to exploit its virtues, because its characteristics fit my riding style. It’s a question of riding style and of how you feel with the bike which then allows you to better exploit what you have under your ass”, he said.

“It’s not the fact that Aprilia won, I would have won with the Aprilia. If we take that argument, I’m now racing a world champion bike. If you want to do a bar talk, we can do it, but if you look at in the details, there are always explanations for why certain things happen,” he added.

Despite the fact that Aprilia offered him the place of official rider and Aleix Espargaró himself called him to try to convince him, receiving a refusal that annoyed the Spaniard, Dovizioso continues to maintain that his role was only that of a tester.

“I repeat, I’m glad that Aprilia had a great weekend in Argentina, because they were good and they deserve it. But my conversation was something else: there was a possibility that I would stay with them, but it would probably be as proven, not for race. But it was my decision, so it’s ok. I don’t see this result as a disappointment for me, because I’m not a rider who fools himself, so I can’t say that if I had been with Aprilia, I would have won, because things don’t work like that”, settled the veteran pilot from Forli , a little fed up with the subject.

Andrea Dovizioso, Aprilia