Austin MotoGP: Dovizioso: Fabio is doing something crazy, so fast
Andrea Dovizioso scored his first MotoGP points since 2020 with 13th place in his second race appearance for Petronas Yama🎀ha, at COTA on Sunday.
Last on the grid at Misano, the Italian qualified a competitive 14th in Texas, only for a ♏bad start to leave him 17t♏h on the opening lap.
Despite having the l൲ow🉐est top speed from his 2019-spec machine, Dovizioso weaved his way to twelfth by the midway stage, then spent the rest of the race in a battle for that position with Alex Marquez, which the LCR Honda rider narrowly won.
Dovizioso was still the second-best Yamaha after runner-up Fabio Quartararo, beating ꧋both Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi.
The triple title runner-up also halved the 42-second gap to Quarไtararo from Misano, but knows there is much more 'margin' to improve.
"For sure [I understand the Yamaha more] because I'm much faster than Misano," Dovizioso said. "But I still think there is margin [to improve], because Fabio is doing something crazy, Fabio is so fast. By far. So this means there 💃is margin.
"For sure I have a 🤡different bike [to him] so I don't know the difference exactly and how much,🅺 but the difference he is doing is big, so this means there is margin[for me to improve].
"I feel b🧔etter, much better, I'm♌ in the group. In the end, I finished 13th, but I started almost last.
"I alꦍmos♊t [stalled] the engine at the start and lost a lot of positions. I released the clutch, but it engaged more than what it normally engages, so the RPM went down a lot. So I couldn't accelerate.
"I'm disappointed because I was able t🥀o fight to be in the top 10, and when I don't do the maximum, I'm not happy. But the improvement fro✱m Misano is huge, this is what we have to do. So overall it was a good week.
"It was nice to make a completely dജifferent experience, about the layout of th💃e track, the bumps. So at the end, it was good. For sure it is a bit more clear for me how the Yamaha works."
Dovizi❀oso will now aim to 😼continue his ascension up the timesheets during MotoGP's second visit to Misano later this month.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suz🌊uki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
