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Petrucci: Not attacking Dovizioso cost me a position

Danilo Petrucci feels his decision not to make a "risky" move on Ducati MotoGP teammate Andrea Dovizioso in the Dutch TT was what ultimately cost him a position to Franco Morbidelli.

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Petrucci and Dovizioso were fighting for fourth during the race alongside Joan Mir, their battle allowing Morbidelli to close in.

The last lap began with Dovizioso ahead of his teammate but Petrucci ended up ceding position to Morbidelli at the very end of the tour.

After he'd taken his maiden win at Mugello, Petrucci said that his focus would now switch to helping Dovizioso take the title.

However, Petrucci revealed that not attacking Dovizioso on the last lap at Assen costly for his own race - and complained that the current situation puts him in a tricky spot.

"The fight with Dovi was very difficult, a great battle," said Petrucci. "I always have to be very careful about him, because he is second in the world championship, so if I have to make a risky overtaking, I avoid.

"At the last lap, however, in order not to attack him, I didn't cover myself, and Morbidelli passed me at the last corner.

"I knew he was there and he was coming up strong, but it's clear that I'm in a strange position and it's difficult for me.

"Maybe because nobody expected me to be third in the world championship.

"Our goal is to win the world championship with Andrea, so they told me not to do anything risky and today I would have to do something risky to pass him."

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Petrucci wants to have further discussions within Ducati in regards to battling with Dovizioso on track in future races.

"It was the first thing I said as soon as I got off the bike, that we should talk to each other to define a bit what will be the next races."

Dovizioso, on the other hand, said that they worked "intelligently", and said this is demonstrated by Ducati leading the teams' championship by 45 points.

"We're behaving in a smart way. As I attack him, he attacks me. At Le Mans and even today. But there is no need to attack by swinging, you can also fight intelligently," Dovizioso insisted.

"If you look at how many points we've scored compared to the other official teams, we're the strongest in the mix, so it means we're working well.

"Unfortunately in some races we are not able to fight there in front."

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