It was a stunned Dovizioso who came out of a Catalan Grand Prix where he was knocked out in the pileup caused at the start of the race by the Honda of his former teammate Jorge Lorenzo. But Dovi quickly regains his senses and is hardened to resilience. He shows up at Assen now 37 points behind Marc Marquez. But don't count on him to lament...
Dovizioso has resources, but it must be recognized that he continues to drop points in the title race against the formidable Marc Márquez since the start of the European campaign. The fall in Barcelona has only accelerated a bad trend that we will have to reverse or risk being once again a spectator of a coronation for the leader of the Honda troops.
A situation so complicated that it pushes DesmoDovi to call for calm… “ You have to stay calm and focused, take the races one by one. The championship is still long » insists the Italian. “ We don't have time to complain about the points lost in Barcelona and we have to approach each race working as hard as we have done so far. I think we are very competitive and, although there are always areas to improve, we are very fast ».
So much for morale. But you also have to be realistic... With the exception of a 2nd place won in 2014, in recent years, Dovi has never managed to obtain remarkable results. Especially, last season, after a big group battle, he ranked 4th due to an intense final fight against Valentino Rossi, which caused them to lose places.
That being said, there could be some reinforcement provided by technique. During the Barcelona test which followed the Catalan Grand Prix, we indeed saw a new chassis on the GP19. He explains : " corner entry seems a little better, but it's not completely clear yet. It's not easy to grasp the difference. During a test, you ride alone, you can make comparisons and analyze the sensations, but the difference is not as noticeable as when you use another tire for example ».
He finishes : " Normally you understand more things in a race weekend because you are with the other drivers. When you change chassis, for example, you must enter all the parameters. So we'll see if we use it in Assen ».
It should be noted that because of the Catalan disaster, Dovizioso saw it return to him not only Alex Rins, but also his teammate Danilo Petrucci.
