Ducati charger leads premier class championship for first time.
In-form Italian Andrea Dovizioso sits atop the 2017 MotoGP World Championship table entering the German grand prix, but says it won’t change his approach whatsoever heading into the weekend.
Dovizioso starred with back-to-back wins at Mugello and Catalunya, then rode to fifth at Assen’s Dutch TT last Sunday to seize the series lead as it reaches the halfway point of the season.
“The Sachsenring is a track that has created a few problems for us in the past, but it has just been resurfaced and so it will be new for everyone,” Dovizioso said. “As always we will have to take account of the behaviour of the tyres, especially in this case seeing as no one has been able to test on the new track surface.
“It gives me great satisfaction to arrive in Germany as leader of the championship, but it won’t change my way of racing because, even in the past, I’ve never raced for each individual result, always with one eye on the championship. We’ll try and do a good job here in Germany to get the best possible result in Sunday’s race.”
Dovizioso has twice appeared on the MotoGP podium at the Sachsenring, in 2012 when he finished third and last year when he again finished third at the end of an exciting race held in changeable weather conditions. This is the first time he’s led the MotoGP championship and first time Ducati has since Casey Stoner in 2009.