MotoGP: Dovi not worried about championship gap

Andrea Dovizioso has played down the 16-point gap in the 2017 MotoGP championship race that separates him from Marc Marquez after Sunday’s Aragon Grand Prix, admitting after the race that he always expected it to be one of his more difficult circuits of the year – and that the race to the title is far from over.

One of Ducati’s least favoured tracks of the season and one of Dovi’s own least favourite, he told MCN after his seventh-place finish that he always knew it would be a testing time for them at Motorland Aragon.

“We expected to struggle at this track and that is exactly what happened. It’s both the bike and my riding style, and I think some small things made a big effect in the race. We lost a lot in three corners, and if we had been able to work a little longer then maybe I would have been able to fight with Maverick and Valentino, but we were never able to fight with Marc.”

But while that might have been the case at Aragon, Dovizioso is confident as the series goes into the final four rounds of the season that it won’t be the case at the remainder of the calendar’s circuits.

“For sure it’s not the best and we lost points, but with the points that we can gain from four races it’s no drama. It will be difficult because Marc is fast at every track and in all conditions and Maverick is really strong, but I think that we have our chance and for sure we’ll try and take it.

“It’s hard to know yet if we’ll have some cards to play yet though. It’s hard to know that at the minute before the race let alone before the weekend – but the good thing of this championship is that you can change the reality at any time. Sometimes it’s a positive and sometimes it’s a negative, but I think we have a chance to fight for sure.”