Andrea Dovizioso: ‘I seriously considered Suzuki and Kawasaki’

Italian Andrea Dovizioso has told MCN he did seriously consider moves to Kawasaki and Suzuki’s factory MotoGP teams for 2009 before signing a deal to partner Dani Pedrosa in Honda’s official squad.

Dovizioso’s long expected HRC contract was announced during last weekend’s Japanese GP at the Twin Ring Motegi, but he only signed after lengthy talks with rivals Kawasaki and Suzuki.

Dovizioso became hot property in his rookie season with a series of impressive performances on the satellite JIR Scot Honda machine.

He is currently fifth in the world championship standings going into this weekend’s Australian GP and he said: “I seriously considered them (Kawasaki and Suzuki) because it was important to speak with everybody.

“I rode seven years with Honda because I wanted to be in HRC, but if the conditions were not like I wanted I wouldn’t go in Honda just because it is HRC. I want to go in a team to fight for the championship, so that’s why I decided in HRC.”