Of all the news stories that have broken within the MotoGP paddock over the last month, one that really caught my attention was the signing of Andrea Dovizioso with Yamaha. Having been absent since the conclusion of last season, Dovi has a verbal agreement with Yamaha for a shock return to the field, taking the absent seat in the Petronas garage alongside Rossi from Misano onwards. It’s big news, especially since it finally shores up the holes in Yamaha’s lineup that have been plaguing them for months – Dovizioso will stand in for the remainder of the season, while Morbidelli will be boosted prematurely to the factory team once he returns from injury.
There’s also a lot of potential here. Dovizioso’s signing for the remainder of this season will do nothing to right the sinking ship that is Yamaha in the short term, but given we now also know he’s expected to remain with them for the 2022 season as well, it brings with it a lot of potential for success. His signing will also do wonders for the funding of their satellite squad, as rumour has it that Italian energy company WithU will step in as title sponsor of the team. Having an Italian rider in their team – especially one as talented as Dovi – assures that they will be able to secure almost any sponsors they require, and should allow him to ride a factory spec bike next season.
So how good will Dovi be when he returns? It has been highlighted many times before how quickly and easily the raw talent and drive a rider needs to perform on a MotoGP bike can slip away when they stop racing full time – Jorge Lorenzo’s middling return to Yamaha testing comes to mind – but Dovizioso was still performing at an extremely high level right before he retired. Does that cancel out the equation? Listed here are the five reasons I firmly believe that Dovi will still be competitive on his return, and that his future with Yamaha looks extremely bright.
He was, and arguably still is, one of the best
Dovizioso first stepped up to MotoGP in 2008, and found immediate success in the premier class. Bagging a podium in his first season in the class and his first win just one year later, Dovi would go on to be a regular feature towards the front of the field for pretty much the entire time he was in the class. This level of competitiveness stepped up in 2017, however, when the development of Ducati’s MotoGP project finally reached its competitive potential. Dovi had an incredibly impressive battle with Marc Marquez over the course of that season, and finished the season second in the standings after losing the fight in the final round. He would also go on to take second place in 2018 and 2019, marking three straight years as the second-best rider on the planet.
Let me be clear: that sort of talent doesn’t disappear overnight, nor does it slip away in just a few short months. Dovizioso ranks up there with Dani Pedrosa as one of the all time greats who was never able to secure a world title, and his stats defend that position with ease. Looking only at that three year window, Dovi racked up 12 wins and 26 podiums, numbers that were only bettered during the time period by Marquez himself. Better than Vinales, better than teammates Lorenzo and Petrucci, better than Dani Pedrosa at the time – there is no way he will be a back-of-the-pack rider with a resume like that.
He’s done the manufacturer dance already
Some riders struggle with moving from manufacturer to manufacturer, especially those who spend four or more years on a single bike before making a swap. While all MotoGP bikes are quite competitive, especially in today’s world, the style of riding required for each bike can differ drastically, and some people just don’t adjust properly. Even incredibly talented riders such as Rossi and Lorenzo have previously struggled to make the move to a new factory, with both riders taking a long time to adjust in their respective moves to the Ducati factory.
Not such for Dovizioso. Dovi has ridden for three different manufacturers during his time in the premier class – four if you include his time spent testing for Aprilia in 2021 – and not once has it caused any problems for him. The longest period he ever went without a podium was during his initial transition to the Ducati squad which saw him barren for the entirety of the 2013 season, and even then he managed to take two top fives that season. This kind of consistency across multiple teams and bikes is testament to his raw talent, and should stir confidence in his new employers as they look to the remainder of the 2021 season.
He’s been here before
I know I just said new employers, but that’s not actually true. Dovi has already raced for Yamaha previously, having ridden for their satellite Tech3 squad back in 2012. It was a solid season for him, too, taking six podiums and fourth place in the championship. Those podiums were hard fought, too – this was in the midst of the ‘Aliens’ era, so his competition was the likes of Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner. It didn’t take him long to adjust either, as the Italian managed a top 5 in his first appearance on the bike and a podium in just his fifth start.
Obviously, times will be different now. MotoGP in 2012 was still in the throes of the CRT program, which essentially meant only half the field was truly competitive, and MotoGP today is an incredibly tight and competitive field where any of the six manufacturers could bag a podium on a given weekend, but just knowing he already has proven success with Yamaha will be a big boost to Dovi’s competitiveness.
He won’t be on an old machine, probably
Remember how I mentioned WithU, the expected title sponsor of the new satellite team, earlier? Well, the Italian sponsor is expected to bring some hefty financial backing with them, and one of the results of this is that it looks extremely likely that Dovi’s bike in the 2022 garage will be a factory-spec bike. While his yet-unknown teammate will be riding a year-old machine, it’s expected that having a seriously talented Italian rider within their lineup means WithU will happily spend whatever is required to ensure Dovi has the most competitive motorcycle underneath him possible.
This is bigger news than you might think. Having an older model bike is a proven handicap – just look at the results of the riders on year-old bikes in the current championship – so having direct factory support will be a massive boost for the Italian. Additionally, when we look back on his previous results with Yamaha, it should be noted that those results were scored on a year-old satellite machine rather than an A-spec model. If he was able to take fourth in the championship then, what could he do now on a more competitive bike?
He knows more than ever exactly what is on the line
When Dovizioso’s sabbatical was announced last year, he seemed rather confident that he would make a return to the sport as early as 2022. Given his track record over recent seasons, it seemed insane that the end of his run with the Ducati squad would also mark the end of his career entirely. His future plans were uncertain, but he was unfazed by the difficult task of fighting for a place in future grids that lay ahead of him.
As we now know, it was an incredibly difficult task indeed. Despite being Aprilia’s test rider for the majority of this season, he was unable to come to any kind of agreement with the Noale factory for a 2022 ride, leaving the door open for Maverick Vinales to snatch the position from under him. The more grid positions fell into place, the more unlikely it seemed that we would ever get to see Andrea Dovizioso back for a MotoGP race weekend. Obviously things worked out in the end, but it would have made things incredibly clear for the Italian.
Make no mistake, he now knows exactly what is at stake if he doesn’t perform. The modern MotoGP rider market is a cutthroat environment, with young riders from Moto2 constantly biting at the heels of current riders, and given that 2023 will mark a turnover for many factory contracts Dovi will need to nail down a seat early to avoid being cut adrift once again. One sabbatical may have been good for him, but losing out on a second seat would certainly mark the end of his career, so Dovi needs to put together strong results from the start of the season to ensure the continuation of his contract with Yamaha.
With all of this information added up, it just seems impossible to me that Dovizioso will fail to impress on his return to the sport in Misano. It may not be an instantaneous success, especially since he will be starting off on a year-old Petronas bike, but the results will come, I’m certain of it. And with Marc Marquez slowly but surely returning to full fitness, who knows? Perhaps we may get a few more famous battles out of the two of them yet. Only time will tell.
Solomon Talks Bikes 