Andrea Dovizioso has spoken to the media for the first time after three days of testing Aprilia’s RS-GP MotoGP machine at Jerez, concluding his first outing for the Italian factory during his 2021 sabbatical.
Dovizioso was as typically closed-lipped as usual, so there are still more questions than answers about how exactly the test went.
He was riding for most of Monday and Tuesday but Wednesday’s final day of action was cut short thanks to cooler conditions and high winds at the Andalucian circuit, which will host the Spanish Grand Prix next month. Dovizioso was adamant that it’s simply too early to draw conclusions from the test yet, as he works to adapt himself to the Aprilia after eight seasons at Ducati.
“When you change bikes, after eight years, it’s a big change,” Dovizioso said.
“The first thing is the position on the bike – that’s the main thing and it takes time. It’s related to being comfortable on the bike, but you also have to understand the best position for you and for the bike. Every bike has different characteristics and we spent a lot of time on that.
“It’s impossible to fix these things in three days, especially when today there was a lot of wind and we weren’t able to ride.
“We did some laps in the morning but not a lot. It’s very nice, from a riders’ side, to try a different bike. Every rider would like to try every bike in MotoGP, just to have a feeling and to understand a bit more than what you see on TV and on track.
“It was very nice, and it was emotional, after eight years with a different bike. It was very nice.”
Beyond admitting to The Race that his lap times “weren’t bad”, he refused to be drawn on specifics about the performance of the bike, instead remaining adamant that until the team gets a better handle on body position there’s no point in worrying too much about times.
“To speak about lap times, I don’t think it is too intelligent,” Dovizioso said.
“Because when you don’t feel 100 percent on the position of the bike it’s not too important. A MotoGP rider can be fast with every bike, very very quick, the gap is small, but this is not the point. Especially if you look at the race, everybody is within one second, so this is not the point.
“To be on top of the positions you need different things. Next, I think we will do another test because we wanted to work a bit more on the position of the bike and that is the key, to work on some other details, and it takes time.
“I think we will organise another test, maybe it will be in Mugello, in one month more or less. And that is the plan.”
Welcome back @AndreaDovizioso, we've missed you! 👋
First shots of Dovi testing the 2021 Aprilia RS-GP in Jerez today! 😎#MotoGP pic.twitter.com/loMjQtuW0Z
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) April 12, 2021
However, he will get a chance to fix exactly those issues, when he heads to Mugello next month for a second outing with the factory, as first reported by The Race last week.
There’s hope that the squad will be able to make significant ergonomic modifications to the machine in the interim, he says that only then can he talk about performance.
“At this moment I’m completely open because I’m living this year in this way, thinking about everything, and enjoying my life with different things. I’m still focused on trying to see my future. I’m completely open, but at this moment what we have on the table is just the next test in Mugello.
“Mugello is a completely different track from Jerez, it’s a really nice track, and after one month I think Aprilia is able to make some changes for my position, and I will be very interested to see if I will be more comfortable.
“If you want to push really hard, you have to look at very small details in MotoGP. And to see that and to understand clearly everything, you need to feel comfortable. Until you’re not in that situation, I think it’s stupid to try to push on somewhere.”
And at least until he gets the chance to feel comfortable on the bike, any chance at all of a much-hoped-for race appearance sounds completely out of the question.
Many had hoped that he might be tempted enough by his first impression to attempt a return to action sooner rather than later, either utilising Aprilia’s six allowed wildcards or even as a replacement for current rider Lorenzo Savadori – but Dovizioso has categorically denied that – for now.
“My passion is still for MotoGP, and I would like to race next year. I think it was smart to be on track, and I’m really happy that Aprilia gave me the possibility to do that in the right way. I think that it’s positive in any case, if I race next year or not.
“The possibility to ride a MotoGP bike is always nice, and to be able to do it in this way, in a professional way, is the way I want to do it. It wasn’t easy to say no, because everything was organised in the right way. It was smart to do it.”
“Normally everything I’m doing I’m doing in a clear way, in a good way. So I don’t want to make something just like that. I didn’t take some options last year for that reason, as you know, so this is not my target. “
