Andrea Dovizioso expects to mount title challenge

Andrea Dovizioso believes he can mount a serious threat to win the 2011 MotoGP world championship.

The Italian has been in impressive form during the winter testing campaign with the new factory Honda RC212V being immediately fast and competitive out of the crate.

And although he has yet to finish faster than Repsol Honda team-mates Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner, the former 125GP world champion is confident he will be a contender for title glory this season.

He said: “I believe we can think about the championship because we have many possibilities to get it. The situation now is that I am not so fast as Dani or Casey, especially in setting fast laps, but also a little bit in race pace.

“We did both tests in the same circuit (Sepang), so we need to know which will be the level in another track and the difference with the other rivals. I really think that we have many chances to fight.

“We still have to improve in some areas and solve the problems with the front end, but I am confident we will be able to do a very good season. If we will be in the actual battle for the championship, we still don’t know”.

Dovizioso also said he expected the title fight in 2011 to be a much closer affair with seven riders easily capable of winning.

Australian team-mate Stoner said earlier this week that he anticipated this year’s competition to be wide open and Dovizioso said: “I think this season will be faster and more closely-fought than in the last few years.

“The level of the Hondas and the Yamahas is very similar and there are six riders that use these two brands that have chances to fight for victory in the races and the championship.

“We also need to take Valentino (Rossi) into account, as everyone know how strong he is. About us, having three riders together in the HRC official team is important and it also gives us a lot of motivation.

“I had never seen such fast pre-season tests as the first and second session we had, where the riders improved their lap times a lot. This means that they all want to be in front and is really motivating. It is also important because Honda will have the possibility to always be in the fight for the lead”.

Dovizoso also agreed with Stoner in criticising the decision to run the opening round of the series in Qatar over four days.

The extended weekend is the result of concerns about track temperature with the schedule late into the night in Doha previously.

Revamping the schedule to ensure the races take place earlier in the evening but it has led to practice getting underway on Thursday night.

Dovizioso said: “I don’t like it very much, because it’s too long. I don’t think having two days with only one session is the best way to work, but it will be the same for everyone, so it won’t be a big trouble.”