Andrea Dovizioso achieves his best result with Yamaha since his return in Portimao, but also struggles with his pace, especially at the beginning of the race
With eleventh place Andrea Dovizioso achieved his best MotoGP result since his comeback and switch to Yamaha at the Portuguese Grand Prix. However, the Italian was not satisfied with his performance in Portimao.
“Towards the end of the race my pace was not bad, but that’s the point. In the first half of the race, when the grip is there, I am not able to be faster,” the RNF rider explained his problems with fresh tyres.
“That is the weak point and also the reason why I am not fast in practice, have to start from far back and then lose a lot of time at the beginning of the race. “
Dovizioso: Lose too much time at the beginning
For comparison, he cites Aprilia rider Maverick Vinales (10th), to whom Dovizioso lost eleven seconds: “When I was riding behind Maverick and he started to push, he was doing times in the 1’40.5 range. I couldn’t go under 1’40.7 and then I also made a mistake and had to leave the track.”
“At the end, when I was on my own, I was doing times of 1:40.2, 1:40.3. That’s the problem. I don’t have the feeling for it and I don’t understand how to use the bike at the beginning of the race. I look at the data and I see the difference, but still it’s not clear to me and I can’t feel it. “
Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Dovizioso believes it’s good to have another race right away next weekend and a test on Monday “to focus on this point”. However, he says it’s not about matching the lap time of fellow marque Fabio Quartararo, who won in Portugal.
What makes Fabio Quartararo so fast
“That’s not the point. I think we have to do things differently. Fabio is so far away compared to the other Yamahas. He rides in a different way and if you try to imitate that, you will have problems,” says “Dovi”.
In detail, he explains, “Fabio brakes very late and very far out, on the lean, then lets it go and makes the speed in the middle of the corner. That’s where he makes the difference. And in the right-hand corners he’s able to lean less, so he has a bit more grip on the right flank.”
“I never rode like that,” the Italian holds. “I don’t know if it just takes time to flip that switch in my head, or if I can even be fast that way. Maybe it will never be the case because I have never ridden like this in my career. Even in 2012 when I was riding at Yamaha.”
Back then he adapted, “but I rode my style,” Dovizioso says, looking back on his Tech 3 season. “Now the situation with Yamaha is a bit different because the grip is a bit extreme from my point of view. That’s the reason for my problems. “
