Andrea Dovizioso reckons that title rival Marc Marquez is currently showing consistently greater ‘special’ speed than in previous years.
Dovizioso has finished runner-up to Marquez in the last two seasons, fighting for the title until the last race in 2017, although missed out on his maiden title in the end by 37 points.
Marquez’s title advantage grew to 76 points last year, but Ducati had looked stronger than the Honda at several points during the season-giving them hope they could catch the Spaniard this year.
This had not come to pass though as Marquez has looked relatively stronger on his weaker circuits compared to previous years, having taking victory at so-called ‘Ducati tracks’ Barcelona de Catalunya and at yesterdays Brno encounter.
He also managed to beat Dovizioso in the Italian’s home race at Mugello, meaning the only time he has out-scored Marquez all season when the pair have finished was his victory at the season-opener in Qatar.
Dovizioso says he is ‘happy’ with his runners-up result at Brno, having displayed similar speed to the Honda pilot during most of the race before his tyres started to go off late on.
“Marc was a bit faster, although not really faster because it was just he was able to keep that lap time a bit longer than the rest of us as we all dropped more time with the rear tyre,” explained Dovizioso.
“The only way to be faster was using the front more.
“I had a different front than him, when he decided to push a bit more he was able to brake later than me so that was the reason I couldn’t stay with him, I saw him struggling particularly on the left hand side of the tyre due to his tyre choice, but it wasn’t enough to catch him.
“We have to be happy, as Marc is showing special speed every race unlike last year so we have to work harder.”
The MotoGP circus now heads to the Red Bull Ring in Austria this weekend, a traditionally strong track for Ducati-having taken victory in all three events held at the venue-and Dovizioso is hopeful of further success at the circuit he won at in 2017.
“For sure we will be competitive in Austria, our bike works well there but the Honda is different this year, they have much better acceleration so they should be much more competitive than last year,” said Dovizioso.
“The tyres also work differently this year, so we are seeing the races go differently this year compared to last so you never know how the tyre will work so we’ll see how we are in the race there.”
