Andrea Dovizioso says he is “disappointed” to not achieve a second row start for the San Marino MotoGP encounter after he failed to “put the lap together” in qualifying.
Dovizioso missed out on his target by three positions, completing the third row in ninth-behind both Pramac-run Ducati GP20’s that will take the start from fifth and sixth respectively.
The Italian lost out on Miller’s fifth position by just over a tenth-of-a-second, but reckons he has a good chance of fighting for a top five finish after making “small steps” with the feeling of his Desmosedici across Saturday running.
“The target was to be on the second row and we had a chance but I couldn’t put the lap together, I’m a bit disappointed about that but this morning (in FP3) and this afternoon we made small steps forwards,” said Dovizioso.
“I’m happy about that, my pace got better and better so not too bad but we can’t think about (beating) the Yamaha riders, their pace is too fast, but after them there is a big group.
“We have to make a good start because we need to do 27 laps really consistently.”
Dovizioso ruled out any chance of beating the quartet of Yamaha’s that locked out the first four positions on the grid in Sunday’s contest, suggesting his Desmosedici’s struggles with the bumps introduced by Misano’s recent resurfacing as a key weakness relative to the all-conquering M1’s.
“Misano has always been really good for Yamaha, I think the bumps are a bigger problem for us. The places where there are bigger bumps we struggle more, in 2018 where was a big bump we weren’t that good so that maybe why (not as competitive).
“We expected the Yamaha’s to be strong, the Suzuki’s will also be very strong, they have a similar pace as us and normally it’s a bit easier for them to keep their speed during the race so they will be in the group for sure.
“A top five would be the best result for us.”
