Italian hero Andrea Dovizioso feels he took ‘the maximum’ from his package in Sunday’s round three MotoGP outing in Texas to claim fifth, but finishing 13 seconds behind the winner – Spain’s Marc Marquez – was “not good”.

Ducati rider Dovizioso still believed his approach to the weekend warranted praise after a second difficult outing in as many weeks.

The Italian’s reward was a return to the world championship lead he had briefly surrendered to Cal Crutchlow at round two in Argentina.

The Ducatis struggled throughout the weekend in Texas, as a bumpy track and its sinewy layout shone a light on the weaknesses of the GP18, leaving Dovizioso and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo some way off the pace on Friday afternoon.

Then, both appeared resigned (as they did in Argentina). But Dovizioso’s decision to use Ducati’s aerodynamic ’18 fairing for the first time at a race weekend coupled with a handful of set-up changes helped with front-end feel.

He would go on to challenge Crutchlow, Johann Zarco and the heroic Dani Pedrosa (riding wiuth a fractured right wrist) for fifth place in the race, seeing Frenchman Zarco off with two laps to play to collect 11 valuable points that were sufficient to retake the championship lead.

Marquez, meanwhile, delivered the perfect comeback from a chaotic performance in Argentina for an unbeaten sixth victory in a row.

Starting from fourth after a three-place grid penalty for obstructing Pol Espargaro in qualifying, the Repsol Honda overtook Andrea Iannone at the end of the back straight and – barring a brief lunge for the lead by the Suzuki rider – was never headed.

The reigning four-time world champion later backed off to win by an advantage of 3.5s over Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales, who claimed his first rostrum of the season. Iannone held on to third for a much-needed debut Suzuki podium from Vinales’ team-mate Valentino Rossi.

The next round is set for Jerez, in Spain, on May 6.

 

Results from Texas:

1       MARQUEZ Marc SPA     25     Repsol Honda Team      Honda         41’52.002

2       VINALES Maverick SPA 20     Movistar Yamaha MotoGP      Yamaha         3.560

3       IANNONE Andrea ITA   16     Team Suzuki Ecstar      Suzuki         6.704

4       ROSSI Valentino ITA    13     Movistar Yamaha MotoGP      Yamaha         9.587

5       DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA        11     Ducati Team        Ducati         13.570

6       ZARCO Johann FRA      10     Monster Yamaha Tech 3        Yamaha         14.231

7       PEDROSA Dani SPA      9       Repsol Honda Team      Honda         18.201

8       RABAT Tito SPA   8       Reale Avintia Racing     Ducati        28.537

9       MILLER Jack AUS 7       Alma Pramac Racing     Ducati        28.671

10     ESPARGARO Aleix SPA 6       Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia         28.875

11     LORENZO Jorge SPA     5       Ducati Team        Ducati        31.355

12     PETRUCCI Danilo ITA    4       Alma Pramac Racing     Ducati         34.993

13     ESPARGARO Pol SPA    3       Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM         37.264

14     NAKAGAMI Takaaki JPN         2       LCR Honda Honda        39.335

15     BAUTISTA Alvaro SPA   1       Angel Nieto Team         Ducati         40.887

16     SMITH Bradley GBR      0       Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM         48.475

17     REDDING Scott GBR     0       Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia         49.995

18     LUTHI Tom SWI   0       EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda        51.115

19     CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR   0       LCR Honda Honda        59.055

20     SIMEON Xavier BEL      0       Reale Avintia Racing     Ducati         59.747

21     MORBIDELLI Franco ITA        0       EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda         1’00.513

22     RINS Alex SPA    0       Team Suzuki Ecstar      Suzuki       10 laps

23     SYAHRIN Hafizh MAL    0       Monster Yamaha Tech 3        Yamaha         12 laps

24     ABRAHAM Karel CZE    0       Angel Nieto Team         Ducati        12 laps

 

Rider Standings

1       DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA        46     Ducati Team        Ducati

2       MARQUEZ Marc SPA     45     Repsol Honda Team      Honda

3       VINALES Maverick SPA 41     Movistar Yamaha MotoGP      Yamaha

4       CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR   38     LCR Honda Honda

5       ZARCO Johann FRA      38     Monster Yamaha Tech 3        Yamaha

6       IANNONE Andrea ITA   31     Team Suzuki Ecstar      Suzuki

7       ROSSI Valentino ITA    29     Movistar Yamaha MotoGP      Yamaha

8       MILLER Jack AUS 26     Alma Pramac Racing     Ducati

9       RABAT Tito SPA   22     Reale Avintia Racing     Ducati

10     PETRUCCI Danilo ITA    21     Alma Pramac Racing     Ducati

11     PEDROSA Dani SPA      18     Repsol Honda Team      Honda

12     RINS Alex SPA    16     Team Suzuki Ecstar      Suzuki

13     SYAHRIN Hafizh MAL    9       Monster Yamaha Tech 3        Yamaha

14     ESPARGARO Pol SPA    8       Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM

15     ESPARGARO Aleix SPA 6       Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia

16     LORENZO Jorge SPA     6       Ducati Team        Ducati

17     MORBIDELLI Franco ITA        6       EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda

18     NAKAGAMI Takaaki JPN         5       LCR Honda Honda

19     REDDING Scott GBR     4       Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   Aprilia

20     BAUTISTA Alvaro SPA   4       Angel Nieto Team         Ducati

21     ABRAHAM Karel CZE    1       Angel Nieto Team         Ducati