2. He was top five from his debut season
How do you announce your arrival in MotoGP? You finish top four on your debut, passing Valentino Rossi on the final lap… that’s how you do it!
Andrea made his MotoGP debut in 2008 but did so on the very privateer JiR Team Scot Honda, the same team he competed with in 250GP. Despite his and the team’s inexperience at the highest-level during an era where ‘the aliens’ and the distribution of privateer machinery meant it was much tougher for satellite teams to leave an impression, Dovizioso was as quick as he was consistent.
He suffered just one DNF, finished every other race inside the top ten, climbed onto the podium in Malaysia and ended the year a remarkable fifth overall – only 16 points shy of fellow rookie Jorge Lorenzo on the factory Yamaha and ahead of Nicky Hayden on the manufacturer Honda.
It’s little wonder Repsol Honda snapped him up immediately…
