Andrea Dovizioso was left to rue the continuing cornering issues with his Ducati machine which limited him to a fourth place finish in the Thailand Grand Prix.
Dovizioso’s result-combined with Marc Marquez’s victory in the second running of the Thai contest-meant he conceded this year’s MotoGP title to the Spaniard.
The Italian had to limit the points loss to Marquez to less than two points to keep his championships hopes alive, but struggled to keep up with his rivals during the tight and twisty second half of the Chang International Circuit venue.
He was able to hold off Suzuki’s Alex Rins for fourth after making a promising start to move from seventh on the grid to the position on the opening tour, despite the GSX-RR rider piling on the pressure across the final part of the race.
“I’m disappointed but we did the maximum and we pushed so hard throughout the whole race and I was really consistent, and I was able to stay in front of Rins, we can’t be too happy but it is what it is,” said Dovizioso.
“I think we worked in the right way this weekend, through the first couple of turns we were fast but in 3 and 4 we weren’t quick enough.
“We started far away in practice, and we improved a bit but the gap was too much in that sector, in the race if you lose so much in one part of the track it’s impossible to stay with the others.
“We worked so hard to improve in Turns 3 and 4, but it wasn’t enough as we were losing too much in that part of the track.
“They went away with good speed at the beginning and we didn’t have the same speed.”
Dovizioso’s focus now turns to securing his third consecutive runners-up spot in the overall standings across the remaining four events, in which he holds a 48 point advantage over third-placed Alex Rins and 52 over the in-form Maverick Vinales.
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