Qatar race winner Andrea Dovizioso says he “didn't expect” to engage in another final corner duel with Marc Marquez at the end of Sunday's 22-lap MotoGP season opener.
Dovizioso made steady progress through the field from seventh after a poor start, conserving his tyres for a final push to challenger for the win in the closing stages of the Qatar Grand Prix.
However, when the Ducati rider hit the front with five laps to go he used up the best of his soft rear tyre, and was unable to pull away from second-placed Marquez.
Dovizioso said Marquez's efforts to stick with him were “unreal”, but believes he handled the situation “in the perfect way”.
“I didn't expect to finish the race with Marc,” Dovizioso, who tallied up Ducati's first win in Qatar since 2010, said.
“This is the MotoGP, this is the reason why there is a really strong riders, they never give up, they are working in the details for the race, and we finish the race in the last corner like already happen [twice before in 2017].
“I didn't want, but the last four laps, when I went to the front, I finished the rear tyre. I make a good laptime, but not as good as I wanted and I couldn't make my line.
“So I couldn't create a gap. For sure Marc, I didn't see him, but he did something unreal to stay with me with that laptime.
“But I'm happy because I was able to manage the last corner in the perfect way. He closed more the door than before, because I had to pass through the kerb on the inside because there wasn't another space.
“But I was able to turn the bike very quickly and use my power, the power of the Ducati in the straight.”
This is the third final corner head-to-head that Dovizioso has won over Marquez, with the Italian pipping the Honda rider in similar situations in Austria and Japan last year.
Marquez downplayed this fact, though, as he feels the tracks where this has happened have been his weakest.
“It's like deja vu, but it's true in another hand that I lost this last lap, last corner in the worst circuits for us,” he said.
“Red Bull Ring, Motegi, here. So if it's like this in the future will be OK, but if this happens in my favoruite circuits then we will attack there.
“But I knew I was on the limit, but I try, so now I can sleep well this night.”
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