MotoGP championship protagonist Andrea Dovizioso is pleased with his pace after Friday practice in Valencia, but does not feel it is enough yet to challenge for victory come Sunday.
The Ducati rider comes into the season finale 21 points adrift of standings leader Marc Marquez and needs to win on Sunday if he is to have any hope of securing a maiden premier class crown.
The Italian beat Marquez on the timesheets in both 45-minute sessions on Friday, though only by small margins as the pair differed on strategy throughout practice.
Dovizioso ended the day third overall with a 1m30.949s lap set in the second session, while Marquez was left in sixth on the combined times after a late fall at Turn 2.
The Ducati rider admits he is not riding smoothly yet, and is struggling on used rubber compared to his rivals – though he expected this to be the case.
“I am happy about the final result, the position of today, but I know what we did today is good but not enough,” Dovizioso told Autosport.com.
“For sure Dani (Pedrosa) and Marc (Marquez) have a better pace than everybody else with used tyres.
“This is what we expected, so I am not surprised about that. This is the reality of the moment.
“Especially the line, the position I am on the exit (of corners) I am not happy, I can’t pick up the bike and exit in a smooth way.
“I can’t do what I want and that is very important, but it is not easy to fix.”
Twitter: The first mistake of the #FinalShowdown weekend from the title contenders!
@marcmarquez93 racks up his 26th cras… https://t.co/VFG1q70ueS (@MotoGP)
Marquez’s second practice crash was his 26th of the season, but the Honda rider – who needs to finish inside the top 11 to win a fourth MotoGP title – is not concerned by this tumble and is happy with his feeling on his RC213V.
“Tomorrow we’ll adjust the final details and we’ll go for a time attack, but I’m happy with the general feeling,” he said.
“Our pace this morning, on a medium rear tyre, was good and in the afternoon I felt well on a soft rear, despite a small crash during my last lap when I was pushing a little bit more.
“It was important to start the weekend well, and I feel good on the bike, so we’ll try to keep this momentum going until Sunday.”
