Sepang MotoGP: Andrea Dovizioso foiled again

Andrea Dovizioso’s quest for a first dry MotoGP victory continues after he was narrowly defeated by a startling performance from fellow Italian Valentino Rossi in Sepang.

For the second time in a week, the Repsol Honda rider mounted a strong victory challenge, only to fall short in the decisive final moments.

He lost to a vintage Rossi display by only 0.224s and the former world 125GP champion said: “I’m very happy with this second place and it was a great race. We have been fighting for the victory at the last two races at two very different tracks, and also in different conditions, so this is really positive.

“I tried to stay close to Valentino on the last lap but in the final braking area I wasn’t close enough to take him in the middle of the corner, even though he was too late on the brakes and went wide. 

“Last year we were 40 seconds behind the winner in the race here, so to be just 0.2s behind means we’ve moved forward a lot.

“Also, in the middle of the season, we weren’t on the podium for a long time, so to be back in the top three is very important for us.

“We have to be happy because this was almost a win, and the riders in front of me are changing at each race, which means we have better consistency.”

Wednesday’s (October 13) issue of MCN includes exclusive reaction from race winner Rossi and the thoughts of new MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo.