Final back-to-back GPs of the year for Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso get underway this weekend with the AlgarveGP
he 2021 MotoGP season enters its final throes this weekend for PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team’s Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso, as they tackle the Grande Prémio do Algarve – the penultimate GP of the year.
Heading into the penultimate race of his MotoGP career, Rossi will be hoping for a better outcome than he experienced at Portimão earlier this year, when he crashed out of the PortugueseGP. However, the Italian finished last year’s edition inside the points (12th) and ended EmiliaRomagnaGP with a top-ten finish two weeks ago – something he’ll be looking to replicate this weekend.
Team-mate Dovizioso goes into the AlgarveGP having never ridden the Yamaha YZR-M1 around the Portuguese circuit before. Despite this, the Italian racked up a sixth place finish there last year after starting the race from the fourth row of the grid. With points-scoring finishes in the latest two GPs, ‘Dovi’ will be hoping to maintain this trend and continue to make progress.
FP1 will get underway at 9.55am local time (5.55pm MYT) Friday for Rossi and Dovizioso, with lights out for the 25-lap MotoGP race at 1pm local time (9pm MYT) Sunday.
#46 Valentino Rossi
Portimão is a difficult track and has some very particular characteristics, which other circuits do not have. The first of our two races there this year wasn’t too bad for us, as I was able to make my way through to be in the top-ten. Unfortunately I crashed out though. The target this weekend is to try to have a good race and to make our way towards the front. I had a good feeling there before, especially on Sunday, so I hope that we can be competitive and repeat a great result like we did last time in Misano.
#04 Andrea Dovizioso
Algarve International Circuit is a very unique track and I actually don’t know what it will be like with the Yamaha YZR-M1, especially because we are still learning new settings with the bike. I’m really interested to see if we can be more competitive in Portimão, because in Misano we didn’t have the possibility to be with the changing track conditions. I hope to make a step forward because it is difficult to fight at the moment. I also hope that we have good conditions in Free Practice, because we need this to continue making progress and to complete more laps on the bike
