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MotoGP, Dovizioso: "For the race I am half optimistic"

"It doesn't surprise me that the Ducati is competitive in Valencia, but Márquez seems to have a bit more"

MotoGP: Dovizioso: "For the race I am half optimistic"

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“If I think about the race, I am half optimistic.” This is Andrea Dovizioso’s analysis after the Valencia qualifiers which gave him third place. “Although, pole position was within my potential because the front end closed up on me at the last turn and I lost a lot of speed in acceleration” he pointed out.

In these two days, not everything went smoothly, but the Italian showed that he can recover even when things start looking bad.

“This morning, we changed the balance of the bike and I am happy with the improvements - he explained - Yesterday in heavy rain, we showed that we are competitive and today, in the dry, we were able to start from a good base.

So, the Desmosedici gave him the confirmation he was seeking.

I wasn’t surprised to find a bike that was fast straight away. If anything, I am happy with the way I was mentally ready to adapt to the new conditions straight away” he explained.

In other words, he has everything he needs to aim high in the race. The problem, if you can call it that, is still the usual one and it is called Marc Márquez.

He demonstrated outstanding speed in all the conditions. A lot will depend on his physical condition after the crash - Dovi analyses - In the wet, he was the only one who was strong even with the medium tyre on the rear. On paper, he seems to have a bit more than the rest.”

With sessions in such different conditions, it’s hard to have a very clear idea of where everyone stands.

The amount of water we have could change things and I hope to have confirmations in the warm up session on today’s improvements - Andrea continued - We will certainly need to manage the tyres well too, but as always, everything could change in the race and we’ll need to wait to see what conditions we find. The asphalt in Valencia guarantees a lot of grip, even with the rain. The only problem is aquaplaning if the precipitation is particularly heavy.

Translated by Jonathan Blosser
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