Anꦑdrea Dovizioso concedes he still has some work to do to get on terms with Repsol Honda team-mates Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner, but insists he can be a reckoned force in MotoGP this 🍨season.

The Italian begins his third season with the expanded factory Honda outfit, thoug⛄h he will now have🍎 two team-mates to contend with following the arrival with Stoner.

So far, while Dovizioso has featured well inside the top five in most of the test sessionsꦯ at Sepang, he has been consistently out-paced by both Pedrosa and Stoner over a single lap and ov💮er a race distance.

Still, while Dovizioso admits he is pla൩ying catch-up, he wants to wait until the MotoGP field trials another circuit before concluding whether or not he wꦜill be a title contender in 2011.

"I believe we can think about the championship because w꧅e have many possibilities to get it. The situation now is that I am not so fast as Dani or Casey, especially in setting fast laps, but also a little bit in race pace. We did both tes𓆏ts in the same circuit, so we need to know which will be the level in another track and the difference with the other rivals.

"I really think that we have many ch🧸ances to fight. We still have to improve in some areas and solve the problems with the front end,, but I am confident we will be able to do a very good season. If we will be in the actual battle for th🐼e championship, we still don't know."

A race w𒈔inner in 2009, although Dovizioso didn't taste the winners' 🎶champagne last season, he was a more frequent podium visitor and at one stage led team-mate Pedrosa in the overall standings.

Though contractual obligations saved Dovizioso from 'relegation' to satellite status - in turn forcing Repsol Honda to expand to three bikes -, he is confident he won't be disgraced alongside his accomplished counterpa♉rts.

"I think this season will be faster and more closely-fought than in the last few years. Th🐽e level of the Hondas and the Yamahas is very similar and there are six riders that use these two brands that have𝄹 chances to fight for victory in the races and the championship. We also need to take Valentino into account, as everyone knows how strong he is.

"About us, having three riders together in꧑ the HRC official team is important and it also gives us a lot of motivation. I had never seen such fast preseason tests as the first and second session we𓂃 had, where the riders improved their lap times a lot.

"This means that they all want 🌊to be ꧅in front and is really motivating. It is also important because Honda will have the possibility to always be in the fight for the lead."