Paris (AFP)
The Yamaha team, participating in the MotoGP World Championships, announced that Italian rider Andrea Davitzioso will retire from the “queen class” MotoGP before the end of the season, specifically after the San Marino Grand Prix in early September.
The Japanese team said in a statement that Dovizioso, 36, who finished runner-up three times in the world championship, had initially planned to stay with his team until the end of the season, “but recently decided to end his career during the race scheduled for his home, in Mizan” on the fourth of this year. Next September in Italy, in the fourteenth stage out of 20 in the current season.
On the other hand, Dovizioso commented, “Unfortunately, the MotoGP class has changed profoundly in recent years, and the situation was completely different for a while: I never felt comfortable with the bike, and I could not fully exploit its potential.”
Dovizioso is currently ranked 22nd in the riders general standings, before the season resumes this weekend in Britain with the 12th stage.
The Japanese team confirmed that Britain’s Cal Crutchlow, the official test rider for Yamaha, will succeed Dovizioso for the remaining six races of the season.
Dovizioso has climbed to the podium 62 times, including 15 wins since the beginning of his career in the MotoGP class in 2008, and was crowned world champion in the 125 cc class in 2004, and runner-up in the MotoGP class three times in 2017, 2018 and 2019, where he failed In winning the title in all behind the Spaniard Marc Marques «Honda».
During his professional career, Dovizioso defended the Honda colors (2008-2011), then spent a year with Yamaha in 2012, before joining Ducati the following year until 2020.
He returned to Yamaha in 2021 in the second half of the season, after a layoff waiting for a good opportunity to return to the MotoGP class, during which time he tested with Aprilia.