Dovizioso to race new MotoGP Ducati GP13 at the Sachsenring

The 'laboratory' bike has been ridden at select weekends this year by Michele Pirro, and was first offered to the factory riders during a test at Mugello in early June - although Dovizioso was underwhelmed with its improvements and elected not to use it for the recent Dutch TT.

A three-day private test at Misano last week reassured him that the team had made tangible progress with its new bike however.

"We did a good job last week at Misano, so for the first time, Andrea will bring the 'new' bike for a race weekend," team manager Vittoriano Guareschi confirmed.

"It will be very interesting to see how it works at the Sachsenring after the positive impressions he had at Misano.

"As for Nicky [Hayden], he did some good lap times at the test, and he'll continue with the current bike.

"The Sachsenring is a track where anything can happen, including with the weather, but we head to Germany expecting to do well."

Dovizioso, who struggled to keep pace with CRT machines and came home a lowly 10th at Assen, said he is looking forward to evaluating the new bike over a race weekend.

"I don't know how the Sachsenring will be for us; as is the case at many tracks this year, this one will be new for me with the Ducati," he said.

"It's a small circuit, but it's very complicated. I'm not crazy about it, but I'm curious to see how the Desmosedici will go there.

"We knew Assen wasn't one of the easiest tracks for us, but we certainly didn't ever expect all the problems we had.

"Still, we go to the Sachsenring as we always do: determined to get the best result possible."