Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso reckons the Italian manufacturer has more “margin” with which to improve for this weekend’s second Aragon contest after being unable to use the soft tyre in practice.
The Italian blamed the unusually cold conditions that afflicted Friday practice as a reason for this, saying the Desmosedici “destroys” the soft compound rubber in these kinds of temperatures and thus forcing the Ducati riders to focus on running the medium tyre instead.
With practice scheduled to take place half-an-hour later in order to try and avoid similar conditions to last weekend, Dovizioso is hoping that this means he can go better than his seventh place result in the Aragon GP.
“Overall I think when you start 13th eighth is pretty good, and I think the Ducati riders have a bit more margin compared to the others for the next Aragon race as when it’s cold we can’t use the soft tyre as we destroy it, so we weren’t able to work with it in practice,” said Dovizioso.
“Pecco (Francesco Bagnaia) used the soft in the race, so there is some important data to learn from for the next round.
“We achieved the maximum we could get today so I’m happy with that, especially here at Aragon where it’s really difficult to overtake.”
The three-time MotoGP vice champion admitted he was “surprised” to make it up to eighth from 13th on the grid off the start, but that a lack of “special speed” prevented much further progress through the field.
“I was surprised to be eighth on the first lap, but at the end I couldn’t have any ‘special’ speed, I was lacking pace in a few key corners and I expected there to be a drop from the soft tyre from some of the other competitors but it never came.
“It came instead from those who used the medium, I think because the temperature was a bit higher so the soft worked better than in practice.
“We are still there which I’m happy about, especially when you start 13th and don’t have the special feeling so my approach of the championship by trying to fight works well, but the points I lost in Barcelona have done heavy damage.
“But with the crazy championship we have in MotoGP this year every race is a different story compared to past years, so we need to keep pushing.”
Despite having failed to capture a rostrum position since his Austrian GP win in mid-August, Dovizioso remains firmly in the hunt for a maiden premier class title with just four events remaining in the 2020 campaign.
He heads into the Teurel GP 15 points down on series leader Joan Mir, though he sits fourth in the overall standings behind Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Vinales.
