Dovizioso ‘happy,’ pondering Sunday ‘question marks’

Preparations for Sunday’s MotoGP outing in Austria could barely have been more ideal, but Andrea Dovizioso insists there remain a number of “question marks” regarding how he and his Ducati team will approach the 28-lap race.

Dovizioso carried his fine form from Brno through to Austria, where he showed fantastic pace in FP4 before lapping the track in 1m 24.357s – just two thousandths of a second off rival Marc Marquez’s lap which earned pole position.

In spite of missing out on top spot by the smallest qualifying margin in MotoGP since July, 2003, Dovizioso was still “very happy” with his effort from the afternoon. However, tyre choice – soft and medium rear options remain open – and strategy will need much consideration in the hours before the race.

“I’m happy,” said second fastest Dovizioso, fresh from only his third qualifying top three of the year. “We are very happy about the lap time we did in the qualifying. First row was the goal. First, second or third is not a big difference.

“I feel confident. Today it was a bit strange, especially in free practice 4 the condition was strange, maybe with a lot of water. There wasn’t maybe the rubber on the asphalt. I didn’t feel so good, so I didn’t expect to be competitive in the qualifying with this lap time.

“But overall at the end the lap time come. I feel confident with the bike. The only thing is we’re going in the race with a lot of question marks about the choice of the tyres, the strategy for what we have to manage.

“I feel good. I think we are the riders who can fight for the victory and the podium. But we are very different so anything can happen during the race.”

In the past two races at this circuit, Dovizioso has been cautious in the race’s first half, with tyre and fuel conservation in mind. Would tomorrow be the same? “I don’t know,” he said.

“I think you have to ask the other riders. Normally you have to save the tyre. You have to save a little bit of fuel. Is a long race here because it’s quite short. This is the normal strategy but doesn’t mean it will be like this.”

The Italian also confirmed he has reverted to the “old” Ducati chassis, which he raced before Assen. Since then he has been back-to-back testing an updated frame with added carbon reinforcements, but a post-race test at Brno confirmed his overall preference.

“I use if we can call the old one," he confirmed. "We decide during the test in Brno, but the difference is almost zero. There is small things for me, for my riding style. I decide that, but didn’t affect really, especially the speed. Is more about other things.”