Andrea Dovizioso ended the opening day of free practice at Phillip Island encouraged after ending less than three tenths of a second off the top of the timing sheets, as he looks to wrap up second place in the MotoGP World Championship.

Ducati have struggled massively at the Australian track in the past with Dovizioso suffering his worst finish of the season just twelve months ago with the Italian ending the race in thirteenth.

“Every time you come here you have a few question marks, so until you ride you can’t really know,” said the factory Ducati man who is just nine points ahead of Rossi in the fight for second place.

“I’m happy. But we are not the fastest so we have to improve.”

Despite Phillip Island being somewhat a bogey track for Ducati since Casey Stoner left, the GP18 is a different bike to recent editions of the Desmosedici.

Widely acknowledged as the best bike on the grid, Dovizioso is confident the GP18 will see Ducati continue to put more demons in bed.

“I think it’s clear today where the bike’s a little bit better,” he said.

“Still the DNA is the same, so we can’t ride in a different way and we can’t be faster in a different way. We’re a bit faster, it’s what we have to do and we have to continue to improve.

“I expect both the Yamahas and Suzukis to be very strong, it’s normal for the layout of the track. For sure Marc, already he showed a good speed with a 29.7 but he didn’t make the lap time.

“Like always we are a big group, competitive in the race. We have to make something a bit better to stay in the top three.”