Difficult to analyse Suzuki potential, says Dovizioso

Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso says it is too early to assess the competitiveness of Suzuki's new MotoGP machine.

Dovizioso ended the Catalunya test with the 11th fastest time with a best lap of 1m 42.397s, which was around 1.3 seconds quicker than Suzuki test rider Randy de Puniet managed on the XRH-1 prototype.

Suzuki is planning a full-scale return to the premier class in 2015 but Dovizioso - who has been linked with a move to the factory team - was reluctant to draw comparisons between his time in the test and de Puniet's best lap.

"I didn't see the Suzuki on track and I didn't make too many laps," said Dovizioso. "It's difficult to analyse that situation because de Puniet now is not a rider who is racing. I think Randy is a really fast rider, but also difficult to analyse because he's a strange rider."

Suzuki was also playing catch-up in terms of setting for the test, having not taken part in the grand prix weekend.

Dovizioso himself had little to test in the way of new upgrades for the Desmosedici and isn't expecting any major developments until Ducati unveils its new bike for 2015.

"We didn't test anything special, small things but nothing new. Maybe we can have something at the end of the season but not about the big materials for the new project for next year," he said.

"The engineers don't speak too much about that [new bike] but they know how they want to do it and have already started."