Andrea Dovizioso says his MotoGP championship challenge is in a “good situation” despite finishing a distant sixth in a difficult Argentine Grand Prix.
The Ducati rider lacked pace for most of the Termas weekend on his GP18, qualifying eighth and set to finish seventh behind main rival Marc Marquez – who was recovering from a ride-through penalty – before the Honda rider was handed a 30-second penalty for a clash with Valentino Rossi.
This netted the Qatar race winner sixth and saw him drop to second in the standings, albeit just three points behind new leader Cal Crutchlow.
Dovizioso admits Ducati was “very lucky” in Argentina, and says the speed of pole man and fourth-place finisher Jack Miller on the Pramac GP17 proved the factory team did not work "in a perfect way" throughout the weekend.
“Well, to finish sixth if you want to fight for the championship is not good,” said the Italian.
“But, in the end, we have to take the positive things and we were very lucky in Argentina. We took a lot of points without good speed.
“Jack showed there was a possibility to be faster in the race [on the Ducati], so it means we didn't work in the perfect way for many reasons; the conditions were very difficult, a lot of riders were struggling.
“But for sure we are not happy about the weekend, but overall in the championship we are in a good situation and we have to keep working like last year to be calm, be focused to fight for the podium or the top five where we can't fight for the victory.”
Marquez has won all races and qualified on pole every year in Texas since it joined the calendar in 2013, but Dovizioso believes the competitiveness of the field this season means the Honda rider's record could come under threat.
He added: “I think this season can be quite different to last year, there is a lot of fast riders with a very competitive bike.
“So anything can happen race-by-race, as you saw in Argentina. So we have to take it race-by-race.
“Austin is always a strange track, also the weather looks a little bit unstable. So anything can happen.
“Last year we struggled here a lot, it was very, very difficult. But in the past I scored two podiums, so why not [challenge for the top three].”
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