Andrea Dovizioso plays down title hopes

Andrea Dovizioso has denied his 2010 MotoGP hopes have been boosted by the injury absence of fellow Italian Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner’s poor start to the season.

The Repsol Honda rider is currently fourth in the standings but 32-points adrift of early frontrunner Jorge Lorenzo. 

Dovizioso has finished on the podium in three out of four races so far but he has yet to mount a series victory threat. 

And the 2009 British GP winner played down his title hopes, admitting he simply isn’t fast enough at the moment.

Dovizioso, who has already scored more podiums this season than he did in the whole of 2008 and ’09, said: “We are not fastest enough to fight for the championship but we need to think about that.

“We are always close, so the points in the championship are really good but we’re not fast enough to play in the weekend.

“We always have to recover for the race and we still need a step to fight for the victory. I’ve made three podiums but we’ve never fought for the victory.”