Andrea Dovizioso has been with Honda since he made his debut into Grand Prix racing in the 125cc class way back in 2001. He has won a World Championship in that category and has been runner up to Jorge Lorenzo in the 250cc class riding an uncompetitive Honda whose development was stopped by the manufacturer. Dovizioso then moved to the Repsol Honda team to be paired with Daniel Pedrosa and in three seasons has won just one race. Meanwhile Honda had signed Marco Simoncelli last year and despite bad performances from him have yet again given priority to him and that has miffed his bitter rival Dovizioso. Despite Honda trying to accommodate Dovizioso at LCR Honda, Dovizioso has decided to switch manufacturers for the first time in his GP career. He has apparently signed with Monster Tech3 Yamaha. Contracts of both Yamaha riders in the factory squad will run out at the end of 2012 and Dovizioso it seems is hoping to get a factory ride, most probably at the expense of Ben Spies whose performance is being considered a little below par. But for that to happen he has to perform exceedingly well at Tech3 and Spies very badly at the factory Yamaha team.