Dovizioso: You must ride the Yamaha like Quartararo, it's difficult

Andrea Dovizioso gave a typically straight answer when asked by Crash.net if the sizeable gap on the Sepang MotoGP test timesheets between Fabio Quartararo and the other Yamahas was also representative of race pace.

World champion Quartararo was seventh on the final day, when the next best Yamaha was factory test rider Cal Crutchlow in 21st. Dovizioso, also riding a 2022-spec machine, was 22nd for the satellite WithU RNF team, with Quartararo's team-mate Franco Morbidelli down in 24th place. 

It continued the pattern seen last season, when Quartararo took five of Yamaha's six race wins and ten of its 13 podiums.

"I can't be happy about the speed and also the pace," replied Dovizioso, title runner-up for Ducati from 2017-2019. "I think in this moment there is just the way of Fabio to ride this Yamaha. 

"Because it showed last year, but also in these two days of testing, if you don’t use the bike like him, it's very difficult to be fast.

"It's very strange. I mean you have to ride in that way to be competitive, because there are some really good things about the bike and you have to use them like him, the braking and middle of the corners.

"But on the exit the bike is not that good and you have to not use too much the exit to be fast. And that is difficult, to be fast in that way. Like Fabio is doing.

"I was trying to study the data, but it’s very difficult to copy other riders. You can be better; you can analyse and understand and it's something you have to do. But it’s just to understand, you can't copy other riders [completely], you can just be a bit better in some areas. Overall you have to try to find your way.

"But it looks like, in my opinion, in this moment there is just that [Quartararo] way. So that's why it takes time for me."

Pressed on how Quartararo handles corner exit, Dovizioso added: "He's braking really good, deep, and makes a lot of spin in the middle of the corners and is letting the bike go.

"He doesn't try to use a lot the rear grip to accelerate fast, he tries to do the time on the braking and in the middle of the corners. And he's really good to do that."

Dovizioso – who spent five races on the 2019 Yamaha at the end of last season - now has three more days of testing, at the new Mandalika circuit, to adapt to the 'Quartararo technique' before the opening round in Qatar.