Andrea Dovizioso says he “took a wrong decision” in opting for the hard front tyre, after finishing 6.4 seconds adrift of his medium-shod MotoGP team-mate Jorge Lorenzo at Mugello.
While Lorenzo went for an aggressive medium front, soft rear option on his Ducati for the scorching 23-lap Mugello race, Dovizioso wanted to avoid running into tyre troubles in the high heat, and so chose the hard front.
The tyre he used was identical to that he won last year's Italian Grand Prix on, but he feels the high temperatures made the hard perform “worse” having felt comfortable on it in practice.
“It was very difficult,” Dovizioso said.
“I think we took a wrong decision about the front tyre, because normally I'm one of the best to save the front tyre with my riding style and for the characteristic of the Ducati.
“But we didn't want to take a risk. In FP4, we were quite fast with the hard tyre, but maybe in the heat it was worse, the work of the front tyre, maybe.
“I saw Valentino [Rossi] lose too many times the front tyre, and he had the same tyre as me, so that is the negative point.”
Despite his tyre woes, Dovizioso said achieving a podium at Mugello was one of his championship “targets”, and was happy to show the Ducati could fight for victory in completely different circuit styles.
“We have to look at the positive things. First and second for Ducati is amazing at Mugello, the championship [situation] becomes a little bit better and come back in the podium, and to make the podium in Mugello is one of the targets of the championship.
“So overall, I'm happy because in the last three races, in completely different tracks, we were fighting for the victory. That, I think, is most important things.”
Dovizioso's '17 season turned around with his win at Mugello. Now 29 points adrift of standings leader Marc Marquez following his two DNFs in Spain and France, he doesn't see the same turnaround happening as he feels he is “more competitive” than this time last year.
“I mean, we start in the best way in Qatar, so I think this year is a completely different story to last year,” he added.
“I think we are more competitive, we are stronger in some tracks where last year we struggled.
“So, from here I think I can start, we can start to gain some points in the championship against Marc [Marquez] because he's still quite far [ahead].”
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