Ducati MotoGP rider Andrea Dovizioso admits he is “worried” the problem of bumps at the Circuit of the Americas can't ever be fixed.
The Americas Grand Prix venue has come under fire over the last few seasons from riders over the excessively bumpy nature of the circuit, with surface smoothing works carried out ahead of last year's event.
However, the riders felt the bumps – particularly down the back straight between Turns 12 and 13 – had been made worse, and had requested a full resurfacing to be done before the '19 event.
While a completely new surface has not been laid, further works have been conducted in a bid to remove some of bumps, which Dovizioso says make it “very difficult to ride”.
“I haven't made the lap to see the difference [to last year's work], I will do later, began Dovizioso.
“But I'm worried it's not possible to really fix the problems that exist on the track, and that is very bad because I think it's one of the most beautiful tracks on the calendar.
“So I think the situation is not nice. It's not nice to manage this. The problem is there is a bump everywhere, and with a bike it's very difficult to ride, not just to be fast,
“So it's very difficult. And it looks like the dirt on the asphalt move almost everywhere, so it's difficult to fix if you don't make a completely new reparation.”
Dovizioso expecting stronger COTA showing
Off the back of his Argentina podium, Dovizioso believes the Ducati is a “bit more balanced” than last year's bike.
Expecting to be able to advance on his fifth-place finish from last year, Dovizioso admits he likely won't be able to challenge Honda's Marc Marquez's unbeaten run of six Texas victories.
“For sure Marc show in the past that he's the king of this track, so we have to focus on bringing home the maximum points, and during the weekend anything can happen,” he added.
“But our base is quite good, so I expect to be more competitive than last year.
“I think we are a bit more balanced than last year, so I think we can be better a little bit everywhere.
“That's why in Argentina our speed was quite good, I think it's the reason why we can be competitive from the beginning here.
“I don't think we have the perfect balance to be really competitive and fight for the victory here, but you never know.”
