Andrea Dovizioso reserves judgement on Ducati potential

Andrea Dovizioso says it is too early to understand the potential of Ducati’s Desmosedici MotoGP machine after he made his debut for the Bologna factory in Valencia last week.

Cold and wet conditions meant Dovizioso completed less than 40 laps on a dry track, as he became the latest high profile rider to stake his reputation on making the struggling Desmosedici competitive again.

Dovizioso has jumped into the hot seat vacated by Valentino Rossi, who returned to Yamaha after a miserable time at Borgo Panigale.

The nine-times world champion claimed just three podiums in 35 races and struggled with understeer and an aggressive power delivery throughout his time at Ducati.

Dovizioso was sixth quickest in Valencia but with less than ideal track conditions he said it was difficult to draw any significant conclusions on the performance of the Ducati.

He is due back on track next week for another test in Jerez where is hoping more favourable weather will give him a clearer indication of the strong and weak points of the Desmosedici package.

The former Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider told MCN: “When you don’t put the bike on the limit you have many question marks and I couldn’t put the bike on the limit really that much.

The change is big and a shock like when I changed from Honda to Yamaha. But like always there are good and bad points but everything is so new and it is difficult to understand everything in such a short space of time.

You want to change many things but this is not the moment to do that. We need good weather in Jerez to understand more the potential of the bike. It is still too early to make a real comparison.

The power is big and also the wheelie looks better than Yamaha but it is impossible to judge in such a short space of time.”