Yamaha ‘very, very different, but in a good way’ - Dovizioso

Following a ten month spell away, Andrea Dovizioso's much-anticipated return to MotoGP action with Yamaha came to fruition today at Misano.  

As expected, Dovizioso was someway off the pace during FP1 as he attempted to reacquaint himself with Yamaha machinery - first time riding an M1 since 2012. 

Dovizioso finished the session in 24th spot, before moving up to 21st during a wet second practice. 

After having spent the last eight racing seasons with Ducati and this year as a test rider with Aprilia - both V4 machinery, the switch back to Yamaha means adapting to the inline four style. 

When asked about his first day back aboard a Yamaha, Dovizioso added: "Very, very, very strange. The bike is very, very very different. So as I expected, the position, it was the point at the beginning. 

"Still I don't feel that comfortable because the change is huge. It’s more about the position and size of the bike than how the bike works. 

"I wasn't fast this morning as I didn't push, but the feeling was very good in some areas. But about the position, we are working. Some things we can do, some other things not in this moment. 

"So we will see, but it was very strange but in a good way. It was nice to feel different things. It was a huge difference, but it was very nice."

While Dovizioso and Rossi weren’t that far apart in terms of final position during both practices, Rossi alluded to data sharing being ‘difficult’ as Dovizioso is on Franco Morbidelli’s former two-year old Petronas Yamaha, but that his fellow Italian’s comments ‘are very interesting’ nonetheless.  

Rossi said: "For me with Dovi it's very interesting because we spoke a lot about the bike after the first and second practice and all the comments from Dovi are very interesting. 

"But from the data it's more difficult because he has a different bike. You need another style to ride that bike, another way to approach the corners. 

"So I prefer to look the data of Quartararo for example or the same bike as me, because with the bike of Dovi the braking and entry is different. So to look at the data is not very important."