For 2013, Dovizioso has moved to the Ducati factory outfit from Monster Yamaha Tech 3. It looked as though he has achieved a respectable third place result until he was demoted by Repsol Team’s Dani Pedrosa in the last knockings of the new Q2.
“I didn’t expect to do a 55.1!” Dovizioso smiled when discussing his session in a motogp.com video interview. “It’s really fast and I’m so happy because, when I pushed really hard with the tyres on the last lap, I had a really good feeling with it and that was really good to experience. We had a few problems with the front, but the track improved a little bit and the wind was blowing in the opposite direction it had been in all of the practice sessions, which helped everybody to improve.”
Yet to complete a long run at the Losail International Circuit, the Italian admits that doubt remain but is still heading into race night with much optimism.
“I don’t know what to expect with the race because we haven’t done a long run and we don’t know how the tyres will drop off over 22 laps,” he continued. “That’s a big question mark but, anyway, to be so close to (pole-sitter Jorge) Lorenzo is really good and I’m really happy with the job we’ve done this weekend. We’re improving step-by-step, especially with the electronics system, and we got to qualifying with a really good setup – so I’m really happy with the job the team has done.”
Teammate Nicky Hayden also reached Q2 and will start from 11th position.
Source: http://www.motogp.com