Having made the best premier-class debut by an Italian since Max Biaggi won the 1998 500cc Japanese Grand Prix, Andrea Dovizioso heads to round two confident of doing 'very well'.
Dovizioso claimed fourth place at Qatar by passing five-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi in the closing stages, making him not only the top Italian but also the leading satellite rider.
Now the JiR Team Scot pilot will have his sights on joining former 250cc title rival Jorge Lorenzo as a MotoGP podium finisher - especially since the Jerez circuit puts an optimum on machine handling, rather than factory-rider favouring top speed.
"Jerez is not my favourite, but with my MotoGP bike I did very well there in testing as I was riding consistently and I did some very good times," said Dovi. "I'm confident that we can do very well and now we have done the first race I've learnt a lot of things that you can only learn while racing with other riders on the track at the same time.
"It will be a very hard weekend, because the other riders want to give their maximum performance - more so than at the tests. I think we have a good technical base set-up but during practice we have to work on the braking of the bike and also the acceleration in low RPM, from around 2000-4000rpm," he added.
22-year-old Dovizioso is also scheduled to make his 100th grand prix start at Jerez.
The Italian competed for three full seasons in 125 and then again in the 250cc class before moving up to MotoGP, with the high point of his career to date being his 125cc title victory in 2004.
With the exception of one wild-card start in 2001, riding an Aprilia, Dovizioso has competed on Honda machinery throughout his career and has shown incredible consistency as well as speed.
Dovi hasn't missed a single race since becoming a full-time grand prix rider at the start of 2002, won the 125cc title by finishing in the top four at every race with the exception of Portugal (where he was forced to stop due to a puncture) and finished in the points 47 times from his 49 250GP starts.
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Dovizioso claimed fourth place at Qatar by passing five-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi in the closing stages, making him not only the top Italian but also the leading satellite rider.
Now the JiR Team Scot pilot will have his sights on joining former 250cc title rival Jorge Lorenzo as a MotoGP podium finisher - especially since the Jerez circuit puts an optimum on machine handling, rather than factory-rider favouring top speed.
"Jerez is not my favourite, but with my MotoGP bike I did very well there in testing as I was riding consistently and I did some very good times," said Dovi. "I'm confident that we can do very well and now we have done the first race I've learnt a lot of things that you can only learn while racing with other riders on the track at the same time.
"It will be a very hard weekend, because the other riders want to give their maximum performance - more so than at the tests. I think we have a good technical base set-up but during practice we have to work on the braking of the bike and also the acceleration in low RPM, from around 2000-4000rpm," he added.
22-year-old Dovizioso is also scheduled to make his 100th grand prix start at Jerez.
The Italian competed for three full seasons in 125 and then again in the 250cc class before moving up to MotoGP, with the high point of his career to date being his 125cc title victory in 2004.
With the exception of one wild-card start in 2001, riding an Aprilia, Dovizioso has competed on Honda machinery throughout his career and has shown incredible consistency as well as speed.
Dovi hasn't missed a single race since becoming a full-time grand prix rider at the start of 2002, won the 125cc title by finishing in the top four at every race with the exception of Portugal (where he was forced to stop due to a puncture) and finished in the points 47 times from his 49 250GP starts.
crash.net