Dovizioso: Mid-corner improvements key, Ducati base 'good'

Andrea Dovizioso believes the biggest lesson learnt from his 2018 MotoGP campaign was improving Ducati’s base package but underlines key points on mid-corner performance which he fears the Italian manufacturer still trails its rivals.

While Ducati’s outright top speed and acceleration has often been its ace card against its manufacturer opponents in MotoGP it has struggled to possess the same levels of agility and cornering ability.

During the Ducati 2019 MotoGP team launch at Philip Morris International’s Research and Development Cube base in Switzerland, Dovizioso made no secret about his continued search for improvements, particularly in mid-corner turning and speed, but from its basic package the two-time MotoGP world championship runner-up feels incremental improvements were made during last season.

Teasing “all new” parts which will debut at this year’s pre-season tests in Malaysia and Qatar, Dovizioso says “the details sometimes make a big effect” to improve its current package rather than seeking wholesale changes.

“We didn’t change a lot from last year with the bike we tried at the last two tests in November [at Valencia and Jerez],” Dovizioso said at Ducati’s launch. “I didn’t think it would be too different but it was important to try. We don’t know how the bike will be in the Qatar race still but I think we have something interesting things to try, but it doesn’t mean we can find something better.

“I’m happy now because our base is good and we don’t have to change something big on the bike. This gives the possibility to the engineers to work on the details and the details sometimes make a big effect.

“It was the first time in Valencia that we had a new bike so we didn’t change a lot on the bike and we were working on the details.”

During Ducati’s launch presentation Gigi Dall'Igna highlighted its investment in development with its GP19 – with particular focus on its aerodynamic department – in its strive for a first MotoGP title since 2007.

Dovizioso may remain wary of making sweeping changes at risk of unsettling the strengths of the current package, which claimed a total of seven race wins last year, but hinted he’s eager for bigger improvements to Ducati’s mid-corner performance.

“I am still not happy in some parts, in the middle of the corner we are still not good enough,” he said. “But we are not too far. I hope we can improve a little bit that point. I believe in some other parts we are a bit stronger.

“Fortunately we are also in a good situation also because we have a lot of Ducati bikes on the track and Ducati is able to test a lot of things.”