Andrea Dovizioso, rider for team Ducati says that he is "still not able" to perform his braking style to suit the 2020 Michelin MotoGP rear tyre. He finished the race in eighth position as he was struggling with the MotoGP tyres.
Dovizioso has been struggling with the traction that the newly constructed rear tyre is providing, which is not allowing the front tyres to assist him in clearing the corners and not allowing him to apply his normal braking style.
Dovizioso had noted that all of the tyre-strategies he has engaged in the past few years are not helping him gain pace in MotoGP 2020 with the current tyre set-up.
Though he brought in great results in the test last Tuesday at Misano, Dovizioso was only able to acquire 10th in qualifying. He wound up 13.1 seconds from the win in the Emilia Romagna GP.
As he was Caught out by Aleix Espargaro's crash at Turn 8 on the opening lap, Dovizioso admits that he did not have the pace to present a comeback like Joan Mir who claimed second place having been down in 11th on the Suzuki.
"[I'm] frustrated because we are working so hard to try to adapt on the brakes, but still I'm not able to do that," Dovizioso, who leads the championship by a point, explained.
"It's very frustrating because on the data it's quite easy to see, but on the track it's so difficult to change that. The race was very strange.
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"I lose some positions in the first two corners to other riders and I lose even four more positions in Turn 8 because of the crash of Aleix. I was really on the back and I didn't have the pace to recover like Mir.
"I was a bit more consistent and I feel a bit better than Misano 1. But I didn't have the speed to improve the situation. So, really disappointed about that."
Dovizioso mentioned that his pace would have been better on worn rubber in Sunday's race than what he's able to get from fresh tyre, and says Ducati "can't be happy" about that.
"One consideration is three quarters into the race when the tyre was completely finished on the left side I was able to do 1m32.9s," he added.
"This means when the tyre is in a better shape, I'm not fast.
We have to try to understand this because it will be very important for the lap time in qualifying and during the race. So, very disappointed, we can't be happy about this.
"But we're still fighting for the championship and now we go to a completely different track [in Barcelona] in the layout and especially the grip.
"I think it [grip] will be very, very low. I don't know if it will be better or worse for us, but we will find a different situation."
