Andrea Dovizioso says he is frustrated with fourth in the Dutch TT at Assen, the Italian unable to fight the leading Yamaha’s as well as title rival Marc Marquez.
Ducati were expected to struggle at the 2.8 mile Assen circuit, the Italian manufacturer having only ever scored a solitary victory at the Dutch circuit with Casey Stoner in 2008.
The predictions of a Ducati struggle came to pass, the 2017-championship runner-up managing just 11th in qualifying.
He fought back in the race to defeat team-mate Danilo Petrucci and Suzuki’s Joan Mir in a close battle for fourth, but could get nowhere near the leading pace.
Dovizioso crossed the chequered flag 14 seconds behind the race winning Yamaha of Maverick Vinales, and 10 behind title rival Marc Marquez who took second.
He now slips to a huge 44 points behind Marquez in the riders standings, and with the German GP at the Sachsenring coming up this weekend- a venue at which Marquez remains unbeaten in MotoGP- the championship looks as far away as ever for the Ducati man.
Dovizioso conceded that the layout of the Assen track clearly displayed the short-comings of his Desmosedici GP19 machine.
“It just confirms our negative parts: we struggle on the change of direction, we couldn’t keep the same speed in the middle of the corner, we have to use the tyre so the tyre drops, which is normal,” said Dovizioso.
“The consequence of this is the 14 second gap, which is too much, so we can’t be happy about that but it’s the reality.
“When you can stay very close to the fastest riders, anything can happen. With the attitude or during the weekend you can change a lot of things, you can affect a lot of things.
“When the gap is big it’s a different story so that is the point. They say it was the best bike, doesn’t mean that’s the reality.”
Dovizioso said he was happy with his own performance however, as he crossed the line as top Ducati ahead of sixth-placed Petrucci and Jack Miller, who struggled to a distant ninth on his Pramac-run GP19.
“We have to be happy about the result because we took the maximum, and this is the first thing a rider must do. So, fourth was the maximum we could do today but for sure, the gap is too big.”
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