An♔drea Dovizioso will make a surprise appearance in DTM next month tea𝓰ming up with Audi for the Misano round.

The Ducati rider will head straight from the Italian MotoGP round at Mugello 💝to Misano with ཧthe German touring car championship competing at the San Marino track on June 8-9.

Dovizioso, who replaces Pietro Fittipaldi in the Audi WRT Team line-up due to his calend🍨ar clash with his Formula 1 reserve driver duties at Haas for the Canadian Grand Prix, will swap his Ducati Desmosedici GP19 MotoGP bike for an Audi RS 5 DTM machine at Misano for a one-off outing.

The two-time MotoGP runner-up enjoyed a debut test for Audi at its Neuburg track facility on Tuesday (May 7) and will get a second test at Misano on May 🐼22-23 as his final preparation for the DTM rou✨nd at the Italian track.

“I love car꧑s and I feel lucky to be able to race with the Audi RS 5 DTM,” Dovizioso sai🌸d. “It’s tough to find the time to prepare for it during the MotoGP season but I am really looking forward to compete in such a high-level context such as the DTM.

“The car is amazing, but i☂t's a different challenge compared with my Desmosedici GP and I need to get prepared, so I did many laps in the simulator before stepping into it for the first t♏ime.

“Misano is a special track for every Italian driver and the place where I scored an incredible win last year so I'm very excited and th🦹ankful for this opportunity.”

Head of Audi motorsport Dieter Gass is naturally thrilled to welcome Dovizioso to his DTM fold and is thankful to Ducati bosses for permitting the Italian’s on🌸e-off outing.

“I’m delighted t𓆏hat in Andrea Dovizioso we managed to get a real superstar to race as a guest in the DTM,” Gass said. “MotoGP riders🦹 are true heroes in Italy.

“Andrea hails from the Misano area, won the Motorcycle ꧙Grand Prix there last year and is going to attract many additional fans.

“We’re already extremely excited to see how he’s going to fare in his DTM debut. That he’s taking time out for the DTM between two MotoGP races is fantastic and not to𓂃 be taken for granted at all.

“I’d like to particularly thank Ducati’s CEO Claudio Domenicali and Luigi Dall'Igna, General Manager of Ducati Corse, w🍨ho agreed to t▨his guest entry. That’s a big thing for the DTM and for motorsport in general.”

Audi, parent company of Ducati, focuses its motorsport activities through DTM, Formula E, TCR and GT racing while its branding appeared on the Italian’s ♛MotoGP bikes for🧸 2019 to signal closer ties between the two companies.

Last year DTM welcomed three star guest dꦐrivers in World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier (Mercedes), 2016 World Rallycross champion Mattias Ekstrom𒈔 (Audi) and former F1 driver and Paralympian Alex Zanardi (BMW).

It also marks the latest MotoGP star to try his hand at four-wheel motorsport following Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa’s Red Bull F1 test last year, while Valentino Rossi takes part in the Mo🐷nza Rally each year.