After a near-15-year career racing in the premier class, three-time championship runner-up Dovizioso retired from MotoGP following Sunday’s Misano race.
Dovizioso announced during the British GP weekend that Misano would be his last outing, with Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow taking his place for the final six rounds of 2022.
The RNF Racing rider finished 12th on his final MotoGP race and was pleased with his performance, even if it wasn’t the top 10 he was looking for.
“Well, the weekend has been crazy and I really didn’t expect the people supporting me in a crazy way,” Dovizioso said.
“I’m really happy, I couldn’t be any better. My decision to stop here was right. Thank you to Yamaha and the sponsors and the team to allow me to do that.
“It has been perfect. The race was like always, I’m not able to be fast in the beginning of the race, I’m not able to stop the bike.
“I couldn’t keep the group in front of me, but from the middle of the race to the end I was able to go faster than my pace until the last lap.
“So, I was able to play a bit with the riders behind me and I was able to keep the position. But for sure a lot of riders crashed.
“12th is a good position for me. I wanted to do a top 10 but I couldn’t.”
Dovizioso has remained stoic through his final race weekends and says he was too “rational” to get emotional during Sunday’s San Marino GP.
“The race and the end of the race, I’m still rational,” he said when asked if he felt any emotions when he got to the chequered flag. So, I didn’t get strange emotions there.
“You are tired, but it’s not the moment [to get emotional].
“You don’t have to do anything crazy before the race, especially the way I have to do the race. There wasn’t any problems.”
Dovizioso will ride a MotoGP bike next week at the post-race Misano test on Tuesday as he trials a new Alpinestars helmet, but will cease circuit racing to contest national motocross in Italy.
The 15-time MotoGP race winner is also working on a secret project he hopes to reveal to the world by November at the latest.
