Dovizioso confident Honda is gaining

The Italian could not keep pace with Jorge Lorenzo, but emerged at the head of the big podium battle with Randy de Puniet, Ben Spies, Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa to take the runner-up spot in the race and to move into second in the championship.

"This second position is much more important than all the other podiums because our position was the second position - it wasn't like the other races where we were fighting and pushing to have the pace," said Dovizioso. "Today I did my own pace and that was second position."

He admitted that being seven seconds behind Lorenzo's Yamaha was not an outcome Honda could be totally satisfied with, but is confident that the team is closing the gap to the leaders.

"Sure we can't be 100 per cent happy because our speed was not enough to fight for the victory, but our second position in the championship is important," Dovizioso said. "We got a good result today for the championship. The problem was we weren't fast enough in the beginning.

"What we need is to keep pushing. At every race we've improved this year."

Dovizioso is also confident that Honda's momentum can continue to Assen next weekend.

"The characteristic of the track is not the best for us, but this year we've improved a lot everywhere," he said. "We've been fast at almost all the tracks so we can be fast there."