'Not going to be easy' - Dovi expects Lorenzo, Marquez battle

Ducati's riders' title chances may be remote, but with six races of the MotoGP World Championship remaining the Italian factory has already matched its six victories of last season.

The difference this year is that the wins have been split equally between Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo, rather than 6-0 in favour of the Italian.

Dovi's latest victory, at home in Misano, was memorable for the way he fought his way to the front of the pack and then kept clear of Lorenzo and Marquez.

The triumph also put Dovizioso up to second in the world championship, 67 points behind Marquez and three clear of Valentino Rossi. But with Lorenzo falling on the penultimate lap, Dovizioso now has a 24-point advantage over the triple MotoGP champion.

The pair would not be described as close friends and there is plenty of pride at stake to be the top Ducati rider, in both wins and championship position, during their final season as team-mates before Lorenzo joins Marquez at Honda next year.

"With the battle I have in the championship it was very, very important to win here because it’s one of the best tracks for Jorge," Dovizioso said after the Misano victory.

This weekend's Aragon round is another very strong track historically for Lorenzo, a winner for Yamaha in 2014 and 2015 and on the podium every season since 2011, including third with Ducati last year.

Dovizioso's Aragon record peaks with a lone podium in 2012, and he knows home star Marquez will also be strong this weekend.

“Aragon is a really nice track, rather unusual and totally different from Misano where I won for the first time in MotoGP two weeks ago, but it’s also a track where we have traditionally always struggled a bit," Dovizioso said.

"In the test at the end of August however we lapped really well and I think that this time we can fight for the win. I expect to be quick, but Jorge and Marc also go particularly well on this track so it’s not going to be easy."

Should a Ducati rider win on Sunday it would mean four-in-a-row for the Italian factory, which hasn't lost a race since before the summer break.

With many are now calling the Desmosedici the best bike on the grid. Dovizioso explained that its traditional weak points - notably understeer - still remain, but have been made less significant.

"I think that's quite normal. You have an advantage or positive things in a different part of the bike, acceleration for example.

"It’s very difficult to create a bike that is better everywhere: Turning, acceleration, and braking.

"Still the DNA of the Ducati is the same. What we did is to improve our negative points, and to try to improve our positive points. At the moment it works."

Meanwhile, Lorenzo insists he has turned the page on his Misano error and is looking forward to another strong weekend in front of his home Spanish fans.

"After the Misano race I managed to turn the page relatively easily: I realised where we went wrong and drew some interesting conclusions," he said, presumably referring to the decision to join Dovizioso on medium tyres, rather than race the soft.

"Now we’re off to Aragon, a circuit where I think we can capitalise on the strong points of our bike and where last year I was able to get onto the podium.

"The test we did three weeks ago was very positive and now we are back here well-prepared and with very clear ideas.

"After a crash you go back onto the track in the next race even more determined to do well and we will demonstrate that we can continue to fight until the end."

While Marquez is clear in the riders' championship, Ducati is 23-points from Honda in the constructors' championship and only 13-adrift of Repsol Honda in the teams' standings.