Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso’s third-consecutive MotoGP retirement was caused by a water-pump problem leaking fluid onto his rear tire at Jerez.

Dovizioso was taken out of the races in Argentina and Austin while running in a podium position, but Ducati did not have the same pace at the first European race of the year. The Italian ran in fifth place early – as the only frontrunner using the softest front tire – and had fallen to seventh when he retired, concerned about the rear-end of his Desmosedici.

After finishing second in Qatar’s season opener, Dovizioso has now fallen to 11th in the standings.

“Unfortunately today we had a problem about the water pump,” he said. “The water went to the rear tire and I almost crashed three times and I had to retire. It is very bad because in the last three races we take zero points and for the championship it’s really, really bad. But this is something that can happen. We have to look at the positive things, I didn’t crash and my feeling with the bike is good.”

Ducati riders struggled with acceleration the most of all with the low-grip Jerez surface and Michelin’s stiffer rear tires.

Dovizioso qualified in fourth, but was 0.844 seconds behind polesitter Valentino Rossi, while team-mate Andrea Iannone started 11th but salvaged seventh on Sunday, 26 seconds behind victor Rossi.

“We have to analyse the weekend, it was quite difficult for many reasons,” Dovizioso said. “Also for the rear tire, but at this track our speed was less than the first three races. We will work on that, because we knew when we came to Europe that the layout and the size of the track is different, so we have to work on that.”