Matthew Birt · @birtymotogp
23rd Feb 2015 from TwitLonger
A delighted Dovizioso gives view on Ducati GP15 debut
“I am really happy because we fixed the problem about turning and this was the key point of the last two years. Now with the new bike I felt much better from the out lap. The first test with
Ducati here two years ago I felt from the out lap the limit of entry and turning. And today from the out lap with the new bike I feel the bike works good and it becomes normal. I can say normal because it is not something special but it is what we didn’t have with the GP13 and GP14. I think this is the key point to start working in a normal way. Already last year we improved the speed a lot and we arrived very close to the best competitors. But now we are in a normal situation to have a really good bike. We are able to work on the set-up and I can play with the bike on track. I can try to pick up the bike more and try to be less aggressive on entry and this is 100% the way to ride in MotoGP. I wasn’t so fast because we didn’t make too many laps because the bike is completely new and we lost some time to the rain. But the key point was the turning and I am so happy to have that feeling. I believe we have a big margin to improve the feeling with this bike because the last part of braking I couldn’t stop and I lose the front many times in the middle of the corner but I think it is the consequence of the braking, so nothing strange.”
Feeling like on out lap when you realised the bike turned
“I was so happy. I went on the kerb on the inside in the first two corners and I didn’t want to. So I was so happy to have that feeling. In that moment I didn’t wait for that. I wanted that but I was more scared thinking about it. But it happened so I am so happy.”
Compare to Honda and Yamaha turning from past
“The problem is when you have used such a different bike you can’t remember exactly how was the old bike. You can remember the characteristics but I can’t remember exactly those two bikes. But now it is normal and now we can work on how we want to use the bike. Before it was setting the bike up to follow the limits of the bike. Now it is different because the limit is normal.”
Bike competitive at first race
“I can’t answer that now because we didn’t ride enough to understand. We don’t know the final potential. Maybe there is a big margin or maybe not. You have to realistic but the key point was the turning and we have improved. We have to understand if we have lost something compared to the old bike. On braking today we weren’t really strong but maybe that was set-up.