Dovizioso: Beating Pedrosa is vital

The Italian hunted down Pedrosa in the closing stages at Le Mans, and overtook him for third place on the final lap. Ducati's Nicky Hayden then demoted Pedrosa to fifth a few corners later.

Pedrosa has been faster than Dovizioso for much of their time together in the works team, but while Dovizioso has struggled for qualifying pace this year, he has led Pedrosa home in two of the three races so far. Those results mean Dovizioso is now two points ahead of Pedrosa in third in the championship.

With Honda still working to improve its speed to get on terms with Yamaha, Dovizioso believes his results will help him get more influence over the direction of the bike's development.

"To go to Mugello ahead of Dani in the points is very important," Dovizioso told Motosprint. "Obviously whoever is ahead has more power, and to make the factory understand that there are serious limits in the bike you need to be strong in the races.

"This is what I've tried to do, this time, because we've made a lot of progress but there is a lot more to do.

"[In France] I got close to the two Yamaha guys and I've been ahead of Dani, and this can help me in obtaining what I need from Honda. It's not so important finishing seven seconds behind Jorge [Lorenzo], the problem is the way you end up there. I'm reacting against Dani, and this is very important for me."

He urged Honda to keep working to find more pace from its bike.

"What's been done up to now is not enough, Honda can and must do more," said Dovizioso.