Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso is “still not able” to adapt his braking style to suit the 2020 Michelin MotoGP rear tyre after finishing eighth in a “strange” Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Dovizioso has struggled with the additional grip the new construction rear tyre is providing, which is pushing the front of his bike on the way into corners and not allowing him to apply his normal braking style.
Last month Dovizioso noted that all of the set-up ideas he has deployed in previous years now don’t work on the GP20 with the current tyre and has had to adapt his riding style.
Though he made a step forward in the test last Tuesday at Misano, Dovizioso was only 10th in qualifying having had to come through Q1 and wound up 13.1 seconds from the win in the Emilia Romagna GP.
Caught out by Aleix Espargaro’s crash at Turn 8 on the opening lap, Dovizioso admits he didn’t have the pace to rise back up the order like Joan Mir who claimed second place having been down in 11th on the Suzuki.
“[I’m] frustrated because we are working so hard to try to adapt on the brakes, but still I’m not able to do that,” Dovizioso, who leads the championship by a point, explained.
“It’s very frustrating because on the data it’s quite easy to see, but on the track it’s so difficult to change that.
“The race was very strange.
“I lose some positions in the first two corners to other riders and I lose even four more positions in Turn 8 because of the crash of Aleix. I was really on the back and I didn’t have the pace to recover like Mir.
“I was a bit more consistent and I feel a bit better than Misano 1. But I didn’t have the speed to improve the situation. So, really disappointed about that.”
Dovizioso found his pace to be better on worn rubber in Sunday’s race than what he’s able to extract from a fresh tyre, and says Ducati “can’t be happy” about that.
“One consideration is three quarters into the race when the tyre was completely finished on the left side I was able to do 1m32.9s,” he added.
“This means when the tyre is in a better shape, I’m not fast.
“We have to try to understand this because it will be very important for the lap time in qualifying and during the race. So, very disappointed, we can’t be happy about this.
“But we’re still fighting for the championship and now we go to a completely different track [in Barcelona] in the layout and especially the grip.
“I think it [grip] will be very, very low. I don’t know if it will be better or worse for us, but we will find a different situation.”