Factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizoso has revealed he has completely changed the way he rides the Desmosedici GP20 in order to make the most of 2020’s Michelin tyres.

At the Misano test on Tuesday, the Italian and his crew tried using more corner speed and being more gentle on the throttle on exit instead of a hard-stop, aggressive-go style. And it appears to be paying off.

“Having a test after the race, on the same track, helps you. Because you have your ideas and can try them out right away. It was very positive for me and for us because we were able to work on a lot of details,” said Dovizioso.

“We had new things on the bike that worked well. I can’t say more about that because the engineers don’t want that. But I am very happy and if only for that reason I think we will be more competitive because the bike has something extra. Then we worked on the set-up to be able to drive in a better way - because the tyre requires different things.

“I managed to drive better and also a little more relaxed. I was able to brake and turn into the corner in a slightly different way - and the lap time was really good and consistent.

“Today the feeling was much, much better. I really hope we’ll see another Dovizioso on Sunday. Because we worked very well and improved a lot. I expect a lot more, that is clear. It’s a little difficult to understand today because the track is so fast. But my feeling was much, much better.

This tyre requires a different driving style. Because my driving style from the past three years has not worked. That is clear. So I had to change that and we tried.

“We saw that you have to go into corners with more speed and have to be very gentle with the gas. I haven’t ridden like this in the past few years. I braked hard, we had little grip at the rear with the tyres from that time and I was able to handle that very well.

“Now we have a lot of grip on the rear tyre, which affects the braking phase and turning. You have to find that feeling and approach the braking phase in a completely different way.

“That was actually what I’ve done better than the others in the past few years. This makes it difficult to be competitive because I was driving in a way that no longer works.

“In the end, the only thing left to do is to adapt because there is no alternative. But that is quite complicatedespecially because you don’t have much time on the race weekends.