Andrea Dovizioso insists he isn't "scared" by the arrival of three-time MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo at Ducati for the 2017 season.
Dovizioso scored his second MotoGP victory at Sepang last year, his first since 2009, and says he's excited to be going up against a rider of Lorenzo's ability – winner of 44 races and three titles since making his MotoGP debut in 2008.
"Scared? No, I'm excited," the Spaniard is quoted as saying by SuperSport. "For sure, it will be a big challenge and it will be very difficult, because I know very well Jorge.
“But I think I'm in a good situation now in my career, I'm 30 years old but I feel I'm in the best moment of my career. So I'm really happy to have this challenge."
Dovizioso says he's wiling to learn from Lorenzo by studying his data and how he prepares for races in order to improve.
"I can learn something from everybody and, in this case, from Jorge.
"For sure, he has a different attitude, a different approach to the weekend like every rider, but I'm open and I'm happy to analyse him, to study him, to improve. And I think everybody has margin to improve, and I can be even more competitive than last year, for sure."