Andrea Dovizioso hails Honda engine speed

Andrea Dovizioso has praised the impressive top speed of Honda’s new 2010 factory RC212V machine after his podium finish in the season opening Qatar MotoGP race last weekend. 

Dovizioso claimed only his second rostrum finish for Honda’s official factory squad when he used the superior speed of his V4 machine to slipstream Nicky Hayden’s Ducati GP10 in the dying seconds of an exciting Qatar night race in Doha.

HRC seem to have mastered new engine restrictions better than any other manufacturer on the evidence of the first race in the Middle East.

New rules for 2010 mean a rider can only use six engines for the whole 18-round world championship.

The rule presented a tough challenge for engineers who had to double engine durability while also maintaining crucial engine performance.

Dovizioso’s Honda was the third fastest bike in Qatar and Valentino Rossi conceded the RC212V now appeared faster than Ducati.

And Dovizioso told MCN: “Honda has done a great job with the engine and this is so important. Not because on the straight we are faster but I can also manage the power. On the acceleration we are not perfect but we can improve.”

And although Hayden later revealed he was having problems exiting the final corner, 2009 British GP winner Dovizioso said he had never before even contemplated having the horsepower to slipstream a Ducati.

“Absolutely no. That has never happened,” he added.

If Honda could iron out some issues with its chassis then the RC212V will be a potent challenger in 2010 with Dovizioso adding: “We can still improve many things. It is never just one thing. In MotoGP now it is such a complicated bike that most things have to be right.”