Dovizioso yet to open contract talks, lap time comes easily

Andrea Dovizioso has shown he can be quick in a variety of places and conditions with Ducati’s GP18 after ending the first day of MotoGP testing in Qatar with the second fastest time.

The runner-up in last year’s championship was quietly confident on Thursday evening, stating his feeling around the Losail Circuit, where he has placed second in the past three seasons, is “even better than last year,” while his fastest lap time of 1m 55.104s – just 0.051s off pace setter Maverick Viñales – “came quite easily.”

Having spent Thursday assessing Ducati’s new potential aerodynamic features for the season ahead, Dovizioso also revealed that he is yet to open talks with the Italian factory on extending his contract beyond 2018. “Still we didn’t speak,” he said.

“I'm happy. I have a really good feeling, even better than last year. We already improved the bike a little bit from last year. In Malaysia, it was a little bit better with the new bike.

“We are still working on a new chassis, new fairing. I'm happy with the way Ducati have worked until now. Still we have to take a decision about our base for the first round, but I'm happy also about the work of today.

“We already compared again the fairings, the lap time came quite easily, and this is the only point which you can look at, at the moment, because there are still two important days for everybody to be working.

“The positive things are the lap time came quite easy - that is very, very important. Apart from that, we already compared the new fairing. It was one of the most important things.

“I feel better than last year, but it's difficult to understand the real potential of the competitors. So I'm not focused or worried about that, I'm focused on the material that we have to try to be ready for the first round, and that's it.

“It's very difficult, MotoGP has become … everybody is fast. It's something strange. Looks like it's easy for almost everybody to make a good lap time. So it's difficult to see the real pace for the race. In the race, it's different. But it's strange.”

On the aerodynamic features he tested throughout the day, the 31-year old was still to draw any definitive conclusions.

“We have to compare again like in Thailand, in a completely different track with a different temperature, and it was very important to have the right feedback to take a decision, to know more which kind of fairing we will use at the first round and during the seasons.

“[There are] Positive and negative [points], like always. So it's not easy, but we have to take this in a positive way, because sometimes we can have an advantage for sure.”

And what of the slightly modified chassis that he tested on days two and three in Thailand? “No, we didn't test,” he said. “We were focused on the fairing. Tomorrow we will test the chassis, to see if I have the same feeling. The fairing was the same, so it was important to take a decision.

“We have to see also the chassis, and normally it's more difficult. Also we have to see if we will find the same conditions or if it will change, because the condition of the track was really clean today, but the grip at the end, it wasn't special. So we have to see if it is just the conditions, or... you know, in Qatar, every day is different. [It’s] Strange.”

Between tests in Thailand and Qatar Marc Marquez confirmed he would stay with Honda for two years beyond 2018. Asked whether he was close to coming to a similar kind of agreement with Ducati, Dovizioso revealed they are yet to open talks on the matter.

“When we start to speak about that, I will tell you something, because still we didn't speak. To know in advance what the Ducati guys are doing is very, very difficult.”