In 2021, Dovizioso will not return to MotoGP “at all cost”

Andrea Dovizioso has stated that he will not return to MotoGP in 2021 “at all cost,” but he remains open to the possibility of replacing Marc Marquez at Honda.

Dovizioso has decided to take a sabbatical in 2021 after losing his factory Ducati seat and failing to acquire a test rider option that would have guaranteed him a return to the MotoGP grid in 2022.

With six-time MotoGP world champion Marquez still expected to be out for some time after having a third operation on the right arm he broke during the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez last July, Dovizioso has been linked with a return to Honda to fill in for the injured Spaniard.

Last week, Dovizioso’s manager, Simone Battistella, told Sky Italy that his rider is “ready” to step in if Honda needs him.

The 15-time MotoGP race winner says he’d consider any offer from Honda, but that returning to the premier class grid in 2021 isn’t a top priority for him.

“I’m open, but at the moment I’m not looking for a place to return to at all costs,” Dovizioso told Sky Italy.

“I am only interested in projects of a certain type, so if there is a possibility of returning to MotoGP in 2021 or 2022 I will be the first to be happy to talk about it.

“Otherwise, there is no problem.”

When asked if he will ride in Honda’s pre-season test in Qatar next month, he replied: “It depends on what they [Honda] propose, it’s not a simple call.

“There has to be a project, a desire to try it together. If there must be such an idea, maybe it emerges by 2022, I will be the first to be happy.

“I’m used to doing things well, so if there is the intention and the desire of both, we can talk about it.

“As I said, I am not just trying to race in MotoGP, otherwise I could have done it differently.”

Dovizioso debuted in MotoGP in 2008 on a Honda and joined the works team in 2009, winning his first premier class race at Donington Park that year.

He’d stay with the team until the conclusion of 2011, as part of a factory three-rider combination that includes Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.

Carmelo Ezpeleta, the CEO of Dorna Sports, has ruled out the prospect of Honda fielding three Repsol team motorcycles for Pol Espargaro, Marc Marquez, and Andrea Dovizioso in 2022, despite the fact that three-rider factory teams have been banned since 2012.

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