MotoGP rookie emotional at thought of first home grand prix as a premier-class rider.
Andrea Dovizioso will take part in his first home grand prix as a MotoGP rider this weekend at Mugello, when the JiR Team Scot star competes in the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
The former 250cc title contender is yet to beat his fourth place finish, under the lights, at round one in Qatar, but heads to round six fresh from a solid sixth position last time out at Le Mans.
"It's difficult to describe my emotions on the run-up to my home grand prix," said Dovi. "The emotion begins to grow at the track when you arrive and it only ends on the Sunday when you get to the finish line. The circuit is beautiful, set between the Tuscan hills and it's so good as the fans can see most of the circuit. Our home fans will be there giving us a lot of support and this in turn will give us a lot of motivation to do well at our home grand prix.
"The circuit itself has many different corners and it goes up and down through the hills. You have corners like Casanova-Savelli and then Arrabbiate. It promises to be a hard weekend but we will give our maximum in front of our home fans. The preparation of the bike is fundamental to the result so practice will be very important," he added.
"The GP of Mugello gives a great opportunity for Andrea to make a jump forward in the championship ratings," declared team Gianluca Montiron. "He has shown that he can fight at the front and to get an excellent result would be fantastic in front of his home fans. The experience gained by Andrea so far on the four-stroke GP bike will be useful as he prepares for the practice sessions as he strives to optimise tyre management during the long race. The fundamental element this coming weekend though is to get the result we want."
"We are very much looking forward to seeing Andrea contest his first home MotoGP race," revealed Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin's director of motorcycle racing. "He has made a very impressive start to his MotoGP career. Despite some bad luck he's shown he's always capable of finishing in the top five or six, even though he's a rookie and he doesn't have a factory bike. His riding style is an interesting challenge for us - he's very smooth and aggressive, and he spends more time at maximum lean than most riders, so we are working to give him a better grip/handling balance from the front tyre."
Dovizioso, already being loosely linked to a 2009 factory ride, will start the race eighth in the championship, but just 20 points from fourth placed Casey Stoner.
