Source: Supplied.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso found himself taken out of podium contention once again at Circuit of the Americas in Texas on Sunday after a mistake from Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa.

Dovizioso had yet another unfortunate race after starting from row two. The Italian finished the opening lap in second place and maintained that position until lap five when he was passed by world champion Jorge Lorenzo.

He remained right behind his Spanish rival and was defending the position from a fast-recovering Pedrosa, when the Honda veteran made a mistake under braking at the first corner, hitting the Desmosedici GP of the blameless Italian rider and putting an end to his great race.

“I am really very disappointed because once again today I was unable to finish my race following a mistake by another rider and losing two possible podiums out of three is the hardest thing to accept in view of the championship,” Dovizioso explained. “However I also want to look at the positive aspects – I didn’t hurt myself and given the way the incident happened it could have been a lot worse.

“In addition, in three different races, in very difficult situations to manage for the tyres, we have always been able to fight for the podium. Today we could have been second in the championship just a few points behind [Marc] Marquez, so from this point of view I am very pleased with the work that we are doing. Even when we are not so fast in practice, in the race we always manage to be competitive. This is the way a factory rider has to race when he is thinking about the championship.”

It wasn’t all doom for Ducati in the United States however, with factory teammate Andrea Iannone claiming third on the podium behind eventual winner Marquez and Lorenzo.