Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso has said that tyres will once again prove the key to MotoGP success this weekend in Assen.
The Italian who crashed last time out in Barcelona ended the first day in the Netherlands sixth fastest overall on his Ducati Desmosedici, 0.481 seconds behind the fastest time of the day set by Maverick Vinales.
Dovi worked hard on rear tyres over the opening two sessions of the weekend and will continue to work to find the best option tomorrow morning.
“Today we worked on hard rear tyres and the speed was really good, but it’s not clear,” said Dovi.
“We have to work also with the soft. Jorge worked on the soft today. Tomorrow morning we will work with the soft to try to understand how it will be because it’s very hot for Assen.
“We have to see the work of the rear tyre because it’s very difficult in this track to be fast and save the tyre, because you are always using a lot of angle.”
Dovizioso ended the opening day in Assen ahead of his team-mate but Lorenzo’s two wins in the last two races has seen him pull level in the World Championship with the Italian. Dovi said that he is working hard to make the amendments to get the upper hand back from Lorenzo.
“I think after Mugello and Barcelona, we understood there is something on the bike and my riding style that doesn’t work in the perfect way. It’s small things but we try to find the way. It’s not easy” explained Dovizioso.
“It’s not clear, because at every track the limit is not the same. But we are trying to do that and that’s why we decided to start with the winglets here. And we change a little bit the set-up.
At the moment it’s working but still we have to understand more and improve a little bit the balance of the bike and my riding style to the tyres, because in the way you have to manage the tyres is different to last year. What we did last year didn’t work in a perfect way like last year. So it’s not easy because it’s really small things, but we are trying to improve this situation.”
