MotoGP 2019. Andrea Dovizioso: How nice to play it with Rossi – MotoGP

SEPANG – In qualifying he is often criticized, but in the race he is (almost) always all right. It is the strength of Andrea Dovizioso: an engineer has the certainty that the result always brings him home. The eighth podium of the season arrives on a track that, in the past, had created so many problems for Ducati on the dry, beyond Andrea's two consecutive victories in the wet.

"The start gave me the chance to play the podium. Unfortunately I lost some time with Miller, who always uses a slightly too aggressive tactic, although he doesn't have the speed, but nothing would have changed. After the tests "I was convinced I could play with Marquez, but he had more. However, on a track that was as complicated as this for us, I had the chance to try it: it's nice to be back on the podium after yesterday's bad qualifying."

It was an intense race.

"Yes, beautiful, to the end. Being always in front of me, I didn't know if Rossi was preparing the rip-off, as it had happened to me in Argentina, or if it was at the limit and so it was right to stay in front and set the race in the best way for you. I couldn't know it, but I tried to stay ahead, even to better control the temperatures, then when he passed me I saw that he was in trouble too, that he was at the limit and I thought that if I kept my pace , he would have struggled to pass me. I drove soft, I used little power, I used the softest maps for the whole race because the tire couldn't do it, it dropped a lot, but it's normal here in Malaysia. " .

You arrived on the podium and the gap is quite limited.

"Yes, this is the positive aspect. It was a real race with the Malaysian heat, a condition that we have always suffered in the past. Honestly, after the good start I made, I was hoping for something more, because as step c I knew that maybe Vinales would have had more, but I was convinced that I could play with Marquez. Instead I didn't make it: I went twice long and finished the speech. I made the two long ones because I tried to do something more, but it was not possible ".

How was the challenge with Rossi?

"It's always hard with him, because you know he never gives up, that he tries to the end. But at the same time it's nice to play with him, because you know he doesn't make the" crazy ", which is a tough one, but correct, smart, a nice challenge ".

Can we say that today was a comparison between two bikes with opposite philosophies?

"It's like this since I've been in Ducati. The difference is that this year Yamaha has the biggest engine gap I've ever had since I was here. As a result, when you're on straight, in fifth and sixth gear, "There is a big difference. In the other corners, they accelerate less, but they come out stronger due to the entry and distance they have. Despite this difference in the engine, it makes you think how much they give us a test: it means they go a lot harder when cornering "This is a new situation, but the features are the classic ones."

If he could pass you in the first part of the track, do you think he had more to go away?

"I don't think so, with the speed he showed he had, I would say no. Now I can say that I had the cards to play with, even if he had passed me, because I think he too had problems with grip ".

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