Andrea Dovizioso confident of title challenge

Italian Andrea Dovizioso is confident he can sustain his 2011 MotoGP world championship challenge as the season approaches the halfway stage.

Dovizioso was runner-up in his home race at Mugello last weekend and is 33-points adrift of Repsol Honda team-mate Casey Stoner in the points rankings heading to the next round in Germany later this month.

Dovizioso is only 14-points behind reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo and he believes he has the speed and potential to make this year’s title battle a three-rider fight.

Speaking to MCN after he finished third quickest in the Mugello test yesterday (Monday), the former 125GP world champion said: “We can fight for the championship. After Mugello I think everybody saw our potential and this track for me isn’t normally good, so it was a perfect weekend.

“I was strong in the race and Jorge had a little bit more speed, especially on entry and it was easier for him to enter faster. But nobody expected us after Mugello to be in this position and the reason is because we are working very hard and in every race I score good points.

“We are strong, though we need to improve because to fight with Jorge and Casey is really difficult and to recover the points they are in front is difficult, but I’m really confident and we will see what happens.”