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Dovizioso needed a boost of confidence after harsh blow in Australia and Sepang that put him on the right path. First place time in the morning on a dry track and the same position in the afternoon in the wet too, a clear declaration of intent by Andrea for Marquez.
“Put pressure on Marc? He is used to always being in first place, but with a 33-point advantage, I don’t think this is enough” the Ducati rider is not deceiving himself.
In any case, Dovi demonstrated that he is ready sell life dearly and on the Malaysian track, the Desmosedici demonstrated that it is once again competitive.
“Logically, I am very happy about the day today - he says - I was fast in both conditions, especially in the wet I felt good. I was able to work easily without looking for a fast time, comparing the fairing and confirming the qualities of our bike on this track.”
He may not have been looking for it, but he found it anyway. Andrea beat out Marc by half a second and he beat his teammate Lorenzo on the same bike by a second.
“I don’t know why Marc and I were so fast. I usually do well in the wet and the Ducati was really working well. We were simply good” he smiles.
Looking at the standings, with 4 Ducati riders in the top 7 positions in the wet, perhaps these are the best conditions for the race to keep the championship alive all the way to Valencia.
“Will it be Ducati against Marquez? Maybe. Marc is certainly confirming his good form and he is making a big difference compared to all the other Honda riders. He has done that before, but never in such a big way - he admits - Anyway, don’t make me talk about the race now. It’s only Friday and anything could happen tomorrow.”
Also because, according to Andrea, the dry session was not entirely indicative.
“The track wasn’t rubberized, so the tyres performed in a strange way - he explains - I was able to be fast straight away and I did some good times, but I think that everyone has some margin for improvement. I’d like to focus on the details, especially working on the front to have more confidence, so I hope that it is dry tomorrow.”
Now that he is sure the speed is there, Dovizioso must build on this base. To do that he needs to think only about himself, without worrying too much about what could happen.
“If it’s a wet race it could be a mess, but in the event of a flag-to-flag, Marquez could have an advantage - he says - But this is not the time to think about these aspects. If anything, we need to focus on being fast in any condition.”
The final question, this time without an answer, is how the asphalt is after the latest work on it to solve the problem of the spots that had trouble drying out.
“We plan to talk about that in Safety Commission, but we don’t have any data. Today we didn’t lap going from rain tyres to slicks, so we weren’t able to get an idea” he concludes.
