Andrea Dovizioso

What’s MotoGP racer Andrea Dovizioso doing with his year off in 2021? One thing’s for sure, he’s keeping himself very busy in the bike world. First, it was testing not just once, but twice with the Aprilia MotoGP team. As of May 17, 2021, Dovi is now an official development rider and brand ambassador for the all-new Italjet Dragster.

Four months after getting off the Ducati with no contracts signed for 2021, Andrea Dovizioso is riding again. The Italian has spent the past three days testing the Aprilia RS-GP at a private test at Jerez, sharing the track with Yamaha, KTM, and Honda, in between the sessions for the MotoE class.

Monday sees the start of three days of activity at the Jerez ciruit, as first the MotoE teams, and then the MotoGP test teams get to work at the Andalusian circuit. Alongside the full MotoE grid – it is an official MotoE test – the test teams of Aprilia, Honda, KTM, and Yamaha will be present at the track.

Monday sees the start of three days of activity at the Jerez ciruit, as first the MotoE teams, and then MotoGP test teams get to work at the Andalusian circuit. Alongside the full MotoE grid - it is an official MotoE test - the test teams of Aprilia, Honda, KTM, and Yamaha will be present at the track.

It might be an exaggeration to call today's news that Andrea Dovizioso is to test the Aprilia RS-GP MotoGP bike at Jerez from April 12th to 14th a bombshell, but it certainly raised a few eyebrows. The Italian had previously turned down the offer of a full-time ride with the Noale factory for 2021, despite Aprilia extensively courting his services. So for Aprilia to offer a test ride is no surprise. For Dovizioso to accept is certainly interesting.

Andrea Dovizioso will be back on a MotoGP machine on April 12, after agreeing to a test with Aprilia on their 2021 RS-GP machine. The Italian announced he would be taking a sabbatical year in 2021 after stepping away from Ducati last year, but will be back on a premier class machine from the 12th to the 14th of April at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto as part of a trial with the Noale factory.