Testing top man Dovizioso ‘not strong enough, but close’

HRC history repeated itself at the Barcelona test on Monday, as for the second consecutive year Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa left the post-race workload to his teammate. Like Nicky Hayden in 2008 with the pneumatic valve engine, Andrea Dovizioso got the chance to roll out a new development –a revised chassis- for the run, and duly put the sole full-factory RC212V present at the head of the timesheet.

Dovizioso’s time of 1’42.230 was quicker than any of his race laps performed with the original 2009 chassis, bringing some degree of resolution to a persistent problem along the way.

“I’m happy with the test, as I tried the new chassis and could work better on corner entry –one of our biggest problems,” said the Italian. Chief Mechanic Pete Benson was also satisfied with the day’s work, stating that “we’ve still got a lot of issues, but there have been one or two clear improvements. We’re looking forward to finally getting the thing to race.”

Dovizioso has finished fourth on seven occasions in the premier class, nearly a third of his 800cc races. Whilst finishing just off the podium is a respectable result attained by few, standards are high as part of a factory team and the 23 year-old has more grandiose aspirations than his current position.

“I race for HRC, so the target is to fight for the championship. Now we’re not strong enough, so I’m not completely happy about not having the possibility of fighting for the race victory… but we’re close.”