Andrea Dovizioso: Factory or Satellite? Now the difference is small in MotoGP

Factory Yamaha MotoGP machinery at a Satellite team may not be working out for Andrea Dovizioso this season, but he still believes the performance difference between Official and Independent status is now negligible.
Andrea Dovizioso, Dutch MotoGP, 25 June
Andrea Dovizioso, Dutch MotoGP, 25 June

Kenan Sofuoglu, manager of World Superbike champion Toprak Razgatlioglu, has 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:made clear ꦿthat only a factory team will suffice as far as tem🎶pting the Turkish star over to MotoGP in 2024.

Dovizioso has experienced life on both sides of the Factory-Satellite fence, starting his 15-year premier-class care𓄧er on a Scot Honda in 2008, then spending three seasons at Repsol Honda.

The Italian reverted to Satellite status with Tech3 Yamaha in 2012, before eight years as a factory Du♔cati rider, where he was title🍨 runner-up from 2017-2019.

After missing the opening half of 2021, Dovizioso returned to the paddock on a year-old M1,𓄧 in place of Franco Morbidelli at SRT. The #4 then switched over to the Factory spec bike for the rebranded RNF Ya꧋maha project in 2022.

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“I think if you have a chance to start [in MotoGP] with a Factory team, it’s always better,” Dovizioso said. “But in this moment to start with a Satellite t𓃲eam and Factory support doesn't change anything.

“In my opinion, MotoGP has changed a lot in this respect and now if you are in a good [Satellite] team with a good engineer, it♊'s not a problem at all, if you have the Factory contract and Factory support.

“If the Factory believes in you, they can give you exactl✃y the same things [as the Official riders].”

“The difference, if you are in a Factory team, is just that you have more money to do what you want, travelling 🦄and h🅺ospitality and those things,” Dovizioso added.

“𓃲Because if the bike spec is the same, andꦗ if you have the Factory support, the engineers are the same. The engineers are taking part in the same meetings. They are doing everything together. Always the same things.

“That's why it doesn🌊't change if you are in a Factory team or not.

“The differenc𒁏e can be the re𝓰lationship you have with your engineer [crew chief] and if the engineer has experience with the manufacturer to know how to manage all the details,” Dovizioso explained.

“It's not about being in a Factory team and🌠 then you have more support or better material. If [the Factory] wantꦗs, they can give you everything the same [as the Official riders].”

Clarifying that his own well-publicised issues with the M1 this season are not due to receiving less technical support as a Satellite rider, but rather the bike's inherent character grating with own his riding style, a stance supported by Morbidelli’s ♏near identical struggles at the Factory Yamaha team, Dovizioso added:

“I think the support is OK, I don't have✱ a problem to Yamaha. I think🥂 Yamaha can make something better overall [with the bike, but] it's not [specifically] about me, to be clear.”

While Factory team riders are currently first (Quartararo) and second (ꦺAleix Espargaro, Aprilia) in the world championship standings, Johann Zarco is third and top Ducati for Pramac.

Gresini’ไs Enea Bastianini is the next best Satellite rider in fifth, and a winner of three races, while Jorge Martin (Pramac) and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46) have also mꦿade podium appearances so far this year.

Andrea Dovizioso, MotoGP, Dutch MotoGP 25 June
Andrea Dovizioso, MotoGP, Dutch MotoGP 25 June

Having 168澳洲5最新开ꦉ奖结果:confirmed he will not race in MotoGP next season, Dꦍovizioso will start the first of his final nine GPs at Silverstone this weekend.

“I think Silverstone is one of the best tracks in our calendar, it’s wide and fast,” he said. “You can find everything on that track. Yet, it’s very, 🐻very difficult to be competitive there and it’s very demanding, but a really wonderfu﷽l track. So it’s very nice to go back there and race in Great Britain.”

Dovizioso is currently tied with rookie team-mate ﷽Darryn Binder for 21st place in the world championship, with ten points. Morbidelli is 19th on 25 points while Fabio Quartararo leads the standings with 172.

Quartararo is confirmed at the factory Yamaha team until the end of 2024, but Morbidelli’s contract expires at the end of next year, ofℱfering a potential factory opportunity for Razgatlioglu.

Meanwhile, with RNF moving to Aprilia machinery next seaso🦋n, there will be no satellite Yamaha team on the 2023 grid.

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