Andrea Dovizioso is anticipating greater improvements in his Ducati Desmosedici GP19 machine in the upcoming pre-season tests scheduled in February at Malaysia and Qatar.

The Italian, who showcased the team’s new-look with incoming naming rights partner Mission Winnow at the weekend, is hopeful of starting the season strongly as he bids for a maiden MotoGP World Championship after finishing runner-up on the last two occasions.

“2018 was a very positive year for me,” Dovizioso explained. “We started with a victory and, even if we had some ups and downs, the difficulties pushed us to look in new directions and half-way through the season we made a big step forward.

“I’m very happy with the work done with the team, we fought for the win basically throughout the second half of the championship and I think we’ll make more improvements in the next tests to begin the season in the best possible way. The expectations are high, I have a great feeling with both the bike and my crew, and we can count on more experience.”

This year will see Dovizioso paired up with a new teammate in Danilo Petrucci, a partnership that has already produced a mutual respect between the competitive duo as they head into their first campaign alongside each other.

“I’m happy to have Danilo alongside me in the garage,” he continued. “We know each other well and I believe we can fight on track but also work together to develop the package.”

“I’m very happy to pair with Andrea,” Petrucci added. “Not only is he a phenomenal rider, but also a wonderful person. We’ve known each other for a long time, and we started to train together with one goal – to both have a really strong season.”

The first pre-season test will take place on 6 February at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, followed by a final test at Losail International Circuit in Qatar on 23 February- two weeks before the season-opener at the venue on 10 March.