Dovizioso to leave Ducati
Andrea Dovizioso will leave Ducati at the end of the MotoGP season.
The 34-year-old Italian joined the team in 2013 and has been runner-up in the championship to Marc Marquez in each of the last three years.
Dovizioso will not be riding for the team in 2021, though, after his manager Simone Battistella on Saturday confirmed he will move on.
Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi had stated that the Bologna factory will make a decision on who will partner Jack Miller next year after back-to-back races in Austria.
Battistella revealed Dovizioso has taken that decision out of his employers' hands before he went out for practice at the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday.
@AndreaDovizioso 's time at Ducati will come to an end at the end of 2020!
— MotoGP(@MotoGP) August 15, 2020
Dovizioso's manager admits that talks for 2021 have hit a roadblock! #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/iLvQ1q8U3X
"We communicated today to Ducati that Andrea does not intend to continue for the next few years," Battistella told Sky Italia.
"He now wants to focus on this championship, on these races, and let's say we don't feel the conditions are right to continue in the future."
Battistella added that Dovizioso will remain in the premier class if the right opportunity comes along.
"To leave MotoGP in 2021? No, Dovizioso's intention is to continue racing if he finds a program and a an adequate proposal to do so," he said.
"Andrea with a cool head has decided he does not to want to continue, it was a reflection made during the last period, he feels much more peaceful now that he has made this decision."