Starting from ninth on the grid, Dovi stormed forward during the inaugural night race, reaching fifth by lap 4 of 22. The JiR Team Scot rider maintained that position righ﷽t until the very last lap, when he dived inside Rossi at the hairpin.

The struggling five-times MotoGP world champion had🍌 rebuffed an earlier challenge, but this time Dovizioso made it stick - and crossed the finish line as the top Italian, and leading satellite rider, during his first ever premier✱-class race.

"I'm very emotional for this first race," admitted Andrea. "I never thought I w💙ould be so quick to finish so near the front and also become the first Italian rider home, which is great!

"Immediately after the start I pushed hard and tried to concentrate on the job in front, I was aiming at the train of riders just in front of me. Perhaps I asked a little too much of my Michelin tyre combination which behaved very well in the race.

"I want to thank the team for the fantastic 💧job that they did over the weekend. We struggled a little in qualifying, but came out 🍬in a very good way when it was time for the race. We have shown that we are ready to do well in MotoGP with Honda and I look forward to the next race," he added.

"We couldn't have really made a better debut and Andrea's last lap shows his determination!" said a delighted Gianluca Montiron, team director of JiR Team Scot. "His figh💟ting spirit, which showed that our rider puts all his personality on the bike, shows we're going to increase and do e💯ven better in the next races as our motivation increases."