Dovizioso: 'Fast, but not fastest'

Andrea Dovizioso set a strong pace on the hard-rear tyre on Friday at the Dutch MotoGP.

The Italian then edged out team-mate Lorenzo when the pair joined their main rivals – apart from Marc Marquez – in fitting new soft rear tyres at the end of the session.

However they were only ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, for single lap pace, just under half-a-second from Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales.

“Today was a bit better than I expected, but we are with a similar pace to the fastest rider. But we are not the fastest. So still it’s not enough,” Dovizioso said.

Dovi will now switch focus to the soft rear tyre tomorrow, as used by Lorenzo today (and in the last two races), before making a decision on which tyre to select for the race.

“Today we worked on hard rear tyres and the speed was really good. But it’s not clear. We have to work also on the soft. Jorge worked on the soft today. Tomorrow morning we will work with the soft to try to understand how it will be because it’s very hot for Assen. 

“We have to see the work of the rear tyre because it’s very difficult in this track to be fast and save the tyre, because you are always using a lot of angle.”

That is especially the case through the fast final sector.

“I didn’t check, but I think all the Ducati riders have a limit there. I think the high-speed change of direction, followed by the fast left corner is not the best for us.”

Track specifics aside, Dovizioso – left in the shadow of Lorenzo’s wins at the last two rounds – has been examining carefully how the partnership between his riding style and the Desmosedici GP18 can be improved.

“I think after Mugello and Barcelona, we understood there is something on the bike and my riding style that doesn’t work in the perfect way,” he said. 

“It’s small things but we try to find the way. It’s not easy. It’s not clear, also because at every track the limit is not the same. But we are trying to do that and that’s why we decided to start with the winglets here. And we change a little bit the set-up. 

“At the moment it’s working but still we have to understand more and improve a little bit the balance of the bike and my riding style to the tyres, because in the way you have to manage the tyres is different to last year.

“What we did last year didn’t work in a perfect way like last year.

“So it’s not easy because it’s really small things, but we are trying to improve this situation.”

Both Dovizioso and Lorenzo also tried a revised chassis featuring some carbon fibre bracing.

“Today we had a chance to make a small comparison, in two exits, and the feeling was good with the new chassis,” Dovizioso said.

“In the corners I feel similar, the difference was the stability on the straight, because here the ‘straight’ doesn’t really exist and we have a lot of movement with the sidewind. In that area it was a bit better.”