Dovi primed for title fight after 'perfect' pre-season

Andrea Dovizioso is confident he can be a MotoGP title contender from the very start of the 2018 world championship.

Speaking after leading most of the penultimate day of pre-season testing, in Qatar, last year's title runner-up said he and Ducati have done 'everything perfect' up to this point.

"It's the first year we are really a contender for the championship from the beginning. Last year it wasn't the case, so this makes me happier and I feel good in this situation," said the Italian.

"We've worked very well in the tests until now. Normally it's difficult to test everything you have in the right way, but until now we've done everything perfect: Malaysia, Thailand, yesterday and today [in Qatar].

"So I'm really happy about all the pieces Ducati brought in the winter. Still there are a few areas where I'm not too happy, but in this track our bike works very well.'

Part of the reason for Dovizioso's delight was that he set his best Friday time during a long-run of just over half race-distance.

"We did 12 laps with a soft tyres. I was really fast and I'm really happy because I did my best lap during that run. The feeling with the bike was really, really good. I was able to keep a good pace. In the past it was always difficult for me.

"The conditions today after the rain were good, the track was fast and we were able to complete our programme, which was to compare the [two] chassis. I'm happy. Both situations are good.

"There is a positive and negative, we did a long run with the new chassis. Still it's not clear which we will use, because the difference is very small, but in any case both are working pretty good.

"I'm very happy about today but there is still tomorrow to work and the race weekend. There is a lot of time for everybody to improve their situation more."

Where do you want to improve?

"Fortunately, we already tested a lot of new parts, now tomorrow we can focus on the set-up and another small long run maybe with different tyres.

"We still we have to work on the front tyre because looks like on the front there isn’t a lot of grip so we have to understand the best tyre for the full race.

"We did a long run on the soft tyre, the grip was good but in the middle of the run the feeling started to change so we have to understand more.

"But it’s very difficult in Qatar because every day the conditions are different and you don't know - with the temperature and the humidity - how the tyre can work."

Dovizioso was only pipped to the top spot by former team-mate Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) in the final 20-minutes, during a single flying lap after the Ducati rider had packed up for the day.

Has testing gone better than the #4 expected?

"At the moment yes. But I have experience to say 'keep your feet on the ground' because every day everything can change. There are a lot of really professional riders and they are able to be there in the right moment."

Team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was one of the few riders not to improve on his day one time and was only 14th fastest.

“Today was quite a complicated day for me: at the start a light rain conditioned the first few hours of the test but then we were not able to be competitive in normal conditions," Lorenzo said.

"In the early afternoon, when it’s still warm, the times come quite easily, but when the temperature drops I’m lacking confidence in the front tyre and am not able to be fast. We still have a few ideas to test tomorrow to try and resolve this problem and prepare for the GP of Qatar in the best possible way.”