Dovizioso has "no doubt" about 2018 title challenge

Dovizioso enjoyed a breakthrough 2017 campaign, winning six races and taking the championship fight to Marquez down to the very last race of the year in Valencia.

The 31-year-old had only won a single race for Ducati prior to the start of the year, and only two in his entire premier class career, but he sees no reason why he can't replicate his success in 2018.

"I've no doubt I'll be able to fight for it," Dovizioso told Italy's Radio 1. "To win it is another thing, but if you have a good base, if you work well and you know your bike's shortcomings, you and your team can make the difference.

"I think we're pretty well placed and we're in the game next year. We're still missing some things, we are not perfect. But I don't see any our opponents having everything in place at the moment.

"It will be difficult to eradicate our weaknesses for 2018, but we know exactly what we must do and where to improve."

Reflecting on his 2017 season, Dovizioso picked out August's Silverstone race as his most satisfying victory.

"Being in contention until the end was really nice," he added. "We managed to be competitive through the whole season and we manage to worry Marquez, the rider who is making the difference.

"We had a lot of satisfactions, but maybe the best race for me was Silverstone, because we were not the fastest but we did everything perfectly."

While he doesn't think his 2017 success will ramp up the pressure for next season, Dovizioso did acknowledge that his rivals will look at him differently next year.

"It will not change a lot because there will not be many changes," said the Italian. "The bike is just an update so I think we can start [2018] very similar as we finished [2017].

"I think the competitors look at us in a little bit of a different way than at the beginning of this season."

Additional reporting by Matteo Nugnes