Dovizioso emotional on beating Rossi

The Jir Team Scot Honda rider overtook the veteran compatriot's Fiat Yamaha on the last lap of the Qatar Grand Prix and went on to finish fourth.

"It was too good, I have tears in my eyes," Dovizioso told Italia1 television. "To beat Valentino on my first race is nice on my first race, I'm really happy."

The young Italian, who finished the race 2.6 seconds behind Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, denied he was thinking about a place on the podium.

"Not really, honestly, because since the start I could feel the limit at the front and couldn't push any harder," he said. "I pushed a lot at the start and managed to stay up there with them, but took a lot of risks. But this allowed me to stay in the last laps with Valentino.

"Pedrosa managed to run away, but to stay ahead of Valentino is good enough for me."

He added: "We've done a great job. This weekend we had some problems, but in the race all the good work we did though the winter shone though and I managed to bring out the best in the race, so I need to thank all the people that helped me."