Dovizioso, who will celebrate his 300th GP start at Mugello, is currently second in the championship, just 8 points behind provisional leader Márquez. Dovizioso won the Italian GP in 2017, was second last year, and took two more podiums in top class at Mugello. Danilo Petrucci can also count on a favorable record at the Tuscan track, where he always finished within the top ten since he joined Ducati in 2015, with a third place in 2017 as his best personal result, one statistic he will try to improve in his first outing in Italy as a factory rider. Alongside Dovizioso and Petrucci, on a third Desmosedici GP19 fielded by the Mission Winnow Ducati team, Michele Pirro will compete in his first race of the year as a wild-card and celebrate his 100th GP start on Sunday.

After five rounds Ducati, which seized three wins and collected 12 podiums overall at Mugello, is second in the Manufacturer standings with 90 points, while the Mission Winnow Ducati team leads the Team rankings with 144 points.

Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 2nd (87 points)
“To arrive at Mugello after a result such as the one we achieved at Le Mans, with three Ducati in the top four positions, is certainly positive even though we aim for more. This is our home race and I believe we can be competitive and fast, so our goal is first of all to step on the podium once again. As we’ve seen in these first races, this year our rivals are also particularly fast, so it’s difficult to make predictions. As for us, we will not settle for what we achieved so far and we’ll try our best, analyzing the data, to keep working and understand where we can make further improvements. I hope the weather is good, because I have great expectations for this round.”

Danilo Petrucci (#9 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 5th (57 points)
“I always have good sensations when it’s time to race at Mugello. I’m very happy because I’ll ride ‘at home’, on what is my favorite circuit and a good track to exploit the potential of the Desmosedici GP, as we’ve seen in recent years. I think this round represents a good chance for us to have a strong performance, and I’m really happy to tackle it after taking my first podium of the year at Le Mans, which gave us confidence. Both myself and my whole team are really excited and motivated for this race, which always helps, and the goal is to fight for top positions once again.”

Michele Pirro (#51 Mission Winnow Ducati)
“I’m happy to get back to racing in MotoGP in a track such as Mugello, for the Italian Grand Prix. I feel great and physically in shape, I had good sensations riding the Desmosedici GP during the tests done a few days ago on the Tuscan track. I’ll ride without pressure this weekend, I’m confident I have done all I could to make sure I’m ready and I’ll try to help Andrea and Danilo achieve the best possible result. It will surely be a weekend full emotions, which I’m happy to share with all our fans. I’m still here, one year after, ready to give my best.”

The Mission Winnow Ducati team will resume action Friday, May 31st, at 09:55 for the first free-practice session, while the race is scheduled to start at 14:00 on Sunday.

Circuit information

Country: Italy
Name: Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello
Fastest Lap: Rossi (Yamaha), 1’46.208 (177.7 km/h) – 2018
Circuit Record: Marquez (Honda), 1’47.639 (175.4 km/h) – 2013
Top Speed: Dovizioso (Ducati), 356.5 km/h – 2018
Length: 5.245 km
Race Distance: 23 laps (120.6 km)
Corners: 15 (6 left, 9 right)

2018 results
Podium: 1st Lorenzo (Ducati); 2nd Dovizioso (Ducati), 3rd Rossi (Yamaha)
Pole Position: Rossi (Yamaha) 1:46.208 (177,7 km/h)
Fastest lap: Petrucci (Ducati) 1:48.001 (174,8 km/h)

Rider information

Andrea Dovizioso
Bike: Ducati Desmosedici GP
Race Number: 04
Age: 33 (born on 23 March 1986 in Forlimpopoli)
Residence: Forlì (Italy)
Races: 299 (201 x MotoGP, 49 x 250cc, 49 x 125cc)
First GP: 2008 Qatar (MotoGP), 2005 Spain (250cc), 2001 Italy (125cc)
Wins: 22 (13 x MotoGP, 4 x 250cc, 5 x 125cc)
First Win: 2009 Great Britain (MotoGP), 2006 Catalonia (250cc), 2004 South Africa (125cc)
Pole Positions: 20 (7 x MotoGP, 4 x 250cc, 9 x 125cc)
First Pole: 2010 Japan (MotoGP), 2006 France (250cc), 2003 France (125cc)
World Titles: 1 (1 x 125cc)

Danilo Petrucci
Bike: Ducati Desmosedici GP
Race number: 9
Age: 28 (born on 24 October 1990 in Terni)
Residence: Forlì (Italia)
Races: 123 (MotoGP)
First GP: 2012 Qatar (MotoGP)
Wins: –
Pole positions: –
World titles: –

Michele Pirro
Bike: Ducati Desmosedici GP
Race Number: 51
Age: 32 (born on 5 July 1986 at San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy)
Residence: Cesena (Italy)
Races: 99 (52 x MotoGP, 18 x Moto2, 29 x 125cc)
First GP: 2012 Qatar (MotoGP), 2010 Aragón (Moto2), 2003 Italy (125cc)
Wins: 1 (1 x Moto2)
First Win: 2011 Valencia (Moto2)
Pole Positions: 1 (1 x Moto2)
First Pole: 2011 Valencia (Moto2)

Championship information

Rider standings
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 2nd (87 points)
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 5th (57 points)

Manufacturer standings
Ducati – 2nd (90 points)

Team standings
Mission Winnow Ducati – 1st (144 points)