Andrea Dovizioso heads to his favourite circuit of Sepang in Malaysia his weekend, already confirmed aꦅs MotoGP title runner-u༒p for the third successive season.

The Ducati star arrives at the penultimate round holding a 57-point advantage over Suzuki's Alex Rins, with a maximum of 50-points rema🐭ining.

“The Sepang circuit is for sure the one 👍I prefer more than anyꦕ other in the world championship," Dovizioso said. "On this track I have some great memories and I’m able to ride to my best characteristics, but at the same time it’s one of the most demanding races on the calendar.

"Heat and humidity are 𓆏two🌊 factors that have particularly affected us in the past, so let’s see what will happen this year.

"On paper I think that we can be competitive in all conditions, with or without rain, as we✅ have shown in thꦑe past, but nowadays in MotoGP it’s really difficult to make predictions.”

Dovizioso was fourth fastest a🎶t the end of February's Sepang pre-season test, led by team-mate Danilo Petrucci. But the Italian will be nursing a fꦓoot injury from Sunday's huge Phillip Island highside.

“Unfortunately the crash at Phillip Island had som🐭e repercussions and, even though nothing is broken, my ankle is still hurting and it’s difficult for me to put my foot down," said Petrucci, fifth in the world championship but only 1-points from Alex Rins in third.

"I hope that 🤪the pain will go down in the next couple of days and that I can race normally.

"In any case, Sepang offers us another chance to accumulate points and we h✨ave to make the most of it. We still have two races to fight for third place in the world champio🦋nship and for the Teams’ title, which is now my main aim.”

The Ducati Team currently holds a one-point ad🍌vantage o꧂ver Repsol Honda.