On August 15th, just a day before the Austrian grand prix Andrea Dovizioso made a shocking announcement that he was going to be parting ways with Ducatti team. The union that lasted for seven years did not rather end well as the rider said “There were no more conditions”. The 34-year-old went on to win the cup in Austria.
Rumours have been going around on Andrea Dovizioso joining KTM Tech 3 as the Tech 3 boss Herve Poncharal shot down the rumours that Andrea Dovizioso was going to replace Iker Lecuona who is a rookie in the team.
Andrea Dovizioso had been asked out by the KTM team earlier on in the year but his price was quite high, even putting into consideration that the 2020 KTM RC16 proved to be very good this year. A similar price issue could have led to his ouster from the Ducatti team.
Herve Poncharal(KTM Tech 3 boss) said he has not yet given up on the young rider who he believes is a star in the making. The Tech 3 boss has a very good reputation in spotting young talent, and Iker Lecuona proves it.
“We told him all year that his job this year is to learn, We have Brad, Pol, and Miguel(Iker Lecuona’s teammates) and his job isn’t too compete with them,” Poncharal said.
“He was only 19-years-old when he started testing, Of course, the first race in Jerez he stopped because of the heat, and I told him he needed to train more. The second race a stupid crash and I wasn’t angry, but I was unhappy.”
“But even then Mike Leitner [works KTM team principal] was telling me that they could see on the data how fast he was, and it’s easier to calm down a fast rider than make a slow rider fast. We arrived in Brno and he did a perfect weekend, tried to pass Mir and made a mistake braking on the bumps and crashed and took Mir with him – and I thought ‘oh my god, three races and no finishes.” Herve added.
“Then the media started to say that he needs to be better, that they’re going to kick him out for Dovi, we didn’t want to put him under too much pressure though, he went to Austria and he finished ninth, I was so happy. You can see his riding style is incredible too, and in the second race with more confidence it was coming you could see how close he was to Brad and Pol.”
At the end the biggest mystery of where Andrea Dovizioso will land for 2021 season is still on, its believed there are talks with APrilia but finances might be an issue as the cant match with Ducatti and KTM. There are also news going round that Petronas Yamaha team may have reached out to Dovizioso and also securing in Valentino Rossi but tend to have problems in finalising the 9 time world champion.
