MotoGP - Dovizioso: "Racing this year with Aprilia is not the plan"

After the three days of testing in which he took part with Aprilia in the middle of last April at the Jerez Circuit, Andrea Dovizioso got back on the 2021 RS-GP this Tuesday and Wednesday at the Mugello Circuit , where the rain prevented the Italian rider from doing too many laps.

Once again, Dovizioso closed the door to compete in MotoGP again this year as a guest of Noale’s house, although he did admit that “it would be interesting” to do a new test to continue learning about the prototype with which Aleix Espargaró is fighting, this year, permanently with the leading riders in the category.

Dovizioso announced in 2020 that he was going to take a sabbatical year after Ducati did not renew his contract or receive offers to race this year in the premier class. But the one from Forli has always made it clear that not being in MotoGP this year is something accidental and that he is preparing to return in 2022 in a project that seduces him, something that until now it seems that they are not achieving in Aprilia.

In a press conference held on Wednesday, the Italian said that “it is not in the plan” to make a wild card with Aprilia .

“We haven’t talked about it because our plan was to do these two tests. From the beginning it was clear to me and it was the truth. I wanted to do two practices (with Aprilia) and this is what we have done.

However, Dovi left a door open to any possibility when he admitted that “after this, we will talk about these tests and the future”.

When asked if he would like to run any races as a guest, or do new tests, Dovi referred to the plan.

“About the race, I don’t think it’s important to talk about it because it wasn’t in the plan for me at any point. I still can’t go strong with this bike, so I have the feeling that there is no reason at the moment to think about racing. About doing more tests, we’ll see. Maybe I’ll get a chance to do some more, but we need to talk about it.”

Of the two days of Mugello , the Italian has not been able to draw many conclusions due to the rain.

“I don’t have many comments to give to Aprilia because we couldn’t lap, especially in Mugello because when you do the first test and change the bike it’s always a big change and you need time to realize and understand a lot of things, a lot of details,” he said.

Regarding Jerez , where Dovi placed a lot of emphasis on the position on the bike, he recognized changes.

“Everything has changed. The first is the [riding] position, and then you can push and try to understand all the areas. I have some ideas, but you have to be able to push and be quick to understand all the details. It’s important to understand the feeling when you’re going strong, but I can’t get that feeling yet.”

The former Ducati did not want to assess too much at what point are his options to return to MotoGP next year, or if Aprilia was his best possibility for the future.

“Right now I’m living my life day by day, so I don’t have any stress about this issue, because if there was a good option for me I would take it. I don’t know what will happen to my future, I think it’s not the time to talk about it yet, it cooled down the options.

“I’m quite happy, I have more time to do other things than I did in the last 19 years, and that’s good,” settled the Forli.