ANDREA DOVIZIOSO

PERSONAL DETAILS

NAME:	ANDREA DOVIZIOSO
TEAM:
NATIONALITY:	ITALIAN
DATE OF BIRTH:	23 MARCH 1986
MARRIED:	SINGLE

RECORD TO END 2009

WINS:

1 1 (MOTOGP) 4 (250GP) 5 (125GP)

POLES:

0 (0 (MOTOGP) 4 (250GP) 9 (125GP)

FASTEST LAPS:

0 (0 (MOTOGP) 8 (250GP) 3 (125GP)

DEBUT:	QATAR 2008 (MOTOGP)
DRIVEN FOR:	REPSOL HONDA (2009-2010) / JIR SCOT TEAM (2008)

CAREER

Andrea Dovizioso enters his second year with the factory Repsol Honda team with a rookie MotoGP win in his portfolio and another year’s experience under his belt. The victory came in treacherous conditions in the British Grand Prix, a race that laid low many of his senior rivals. While they were tumbling, the Italian applied his intelligent, refined riding style all the way to the top of the rostrum. That display of talent alone validated the factory’s bet to make him a part of the Repsol Honda works squad, which had been a dream of his since he came into grand prix racing in 2002.

It was a wager of a different kind that began Dovi’s motorcycling life. As a four-year-old, he bet his father that if he could ride his bicycle without training wheels, he would win a motorcycle. The youngster won the bet and his father, a motocross racer in his own right, was more than happy to pay up. .

Dovizioso’s early memories are of watching his father race motocross and it wasn’t long before the youngster took to the track with a passion. By the time he was seven he was racing both on and off-road near his home in Forlimpopoli, Italy, and wearing the number 34 in honor of his idol Kevin Schwantz. In 1994, his first year in the Italian Minimoto Championship he finished fifth, and would later twice win the championship. He was also an avid and skilled football player, but in 2000 he chose to devote his energy to racing.

In 2000 he raced in the Aprilia 125 Challenge before moving on to a proper race bike to contest the 2001 European 125cc Championship. In his first try, Dovi won the European title and was promoted to ride a Team Scot Honda RS125R in the 2002 125cc World Championship. Just two years later he took eight poles and five races on his way to the 2004 125cc title.

The move to 250’s followed, still with Team Scot Honda, and he scored five podiums in his rookie year, finishing third overall. The next year he won twice, to finish second, a performance he repeated in 2007.

Dovizioso’s dream came true when he was elevated to the MotoGP category in 2008 with Team Scot Honda. In his class debut under the lights in Qatar, Dovizioso finished just off the podium while beating the eventual world champion Valentino Rossi and finishing just behind Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. The result wouldn’t be easy to replicate. MotoGP 800’s are sophisticated racebikes with complex electronics that require patience and experience to master and it took most of the season for Dovi to learn their intricacies, all while racing the world’s best. His reward was a first podium in the penultimate race of the season in Sepang, Malaysia, where he again finished just behind Pedrosa. By then Honda had made the decision to make him a member of the factory team.

The 24-year-old Dovizioso makes his home in Flori, Italy and counts football, motocross and snowboarding as his hobbies outside of motorcycles. Since 2005, he’s given tirelessly of his time as the global ambassador for a foundation dedicated to children with heart ailments.

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