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Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso says fighting for MotoGP victory at Aragon was “even more important” than his win in the Misano race that preceded it.
Despite the circuit’s 968-metre back straight that should play to Ducati’s straighline speed strength, the manufacturer’s form at Aragon has been erratic, and Dovizioso in particular has had little success at the venue since joining the squad in 2013.
But Dovizioso was a frontrunner in practice and qualifying last weekend, and came up just 0.648 seconds short of victory.
“What happened this weekend was very, very important – more [important] than Misano,” said Dovizioso.
“In Misano it was very important, but here even more because this confirms our improvement, and this improvement is the reality but is even better for the future.”
Rivals suggested Dovizioso was one of the favourites in the lead-up to Sunday’s race, but the Italian stressed he was not disheartened about missing out on what some saw as a likely win.
“We came here with a lot of confidence from the [other] competitors, they thought we could win the race easily,” he added.
“But it’s never like this, and I’m so happy how much we improved from last year [when Dovizioso finished seventh]. This is the point.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t win, we tried until the last lap, but we have to study and analyse the reality and the reality is we did a good step – a huge step.”
Dovizioso was beaten by Marc Marquez in a late-race duel, with the Honda rider stretching his points advantage to 72 over Dovizioso with five races to go as a result.
“To gain 72 points to in five races to Marc is impossible,” Dovizioso conceded.
“The only way is if he will not race, and even then is difficult to make 72 points.
“So if we want be realistic, no [I cannot win the title]. In the races everything can happen, so it’s open because mathematically it’s open. But this is the situation.”