The Ducati and Suzuki are two of the most contrastin𝔉g machines on the MotoGP grid.

While the Desmosedici is famed for its stop-and-go performance, the Italian factory has long b🐬attled with turning difficulties.

Meanwhi﷽le, tಞhe smooth and nimble GSX-RR probably has the best cornering speed of any machine, but loses out on top speed and braking.

Those characteristics made for an interesting Assen contest as the factory Ducatis of Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso took on Suzuki's Joan Mir, the trio spending most of the race fighting over fourt🧸h place.

Referring to the wide, sweeping lines of the GSX-RR compared to the hard-braking and acceleration of the Desmo💯sedici, Petrucci explained why a change in grip at Assen hurt Ducati more than the corner-speed machines:

"The problem is that I think [the Suzuki] makes more kilometres around the track but they are faster, because they don't ♐have to do 💛'square' corners like us.

"When we can brake hard and go into th⭕e inside of the corner very early, it's okay for us. But we need a lot of support from the🎶 rear, a lot of grip and a lot of traction from the rear tyre.

"But this was not possible in the ꧟second part of the race 𝓰and problem is that when we miss a lot of grip, the bike is not fast.

"F🍃or sure Mir has to learn a lot, but he is fast. He is a rookie and he could become a 'problem' when he learns to ride because they are🅠 very, very smooth in the corners.

"They [Suzuki] use all the track, and for usไ it's not possible.

"If we enter the corner very wide and try to find the apex at the last point, we mis﷽s the apex immediately. And it's difficult to fight with other guys that are very fast in the corner here, because there are no straights, no braking areas. So for us it was difficult.

"It was strange because with grip, like♓ in the first three sessions of this weekend, I was always in the top three. I did the lap record on Saturday morning and&💖nbsp;rode one of the best bikes of my life.

"But since FP4, when the hot temperature came, the bike bec🃏ame very, very difficult to ride."

Fortunately for Petrucci and Dovizioso, who were on the hard rear tyre, even the smooth-h🍰andling of the Suzuki could not allow Mir to make the soft rear last the full distance and he lost pace in the closing laps.

But just as one rival dropped away, an♕other arrived in the form of Franco Morbidelli.

Petrucci was being extra careful to avoid tangling with team-mate and title contender Doviziosꦜo, but paid the price for his caution when the Petronaඣs Yamaha struck at the very final turn, demoting him to sixth.

"I had good pace in the middle of the 𒆙race, but the last ten laps were like a nightmare," Petrucci said.

"I was st🐭ill able to gain some positions, to pass Mir💙, and we made a good fight with Andrea.

"Unfortunately, there was just one chance to try to pass him on the last lap. I deci🍨ded not to go crazy, but that was not the right choice, because in the last corner, Morbidelli went on the inside and I ꦿlost one position.

"Fighting with your team-mate🎶 is always quite difficult and today I paid the co⛎nsequences."

♛Petrucci, soꦑon expected to be confirmed as staying at Ducati for 2020, has now moved ahead of Mir's team-mate Alex Rins (who fell from the lead) for third in the world championship behind Assen runner-up Marc Marquez (Honda) and Dovizioso.

But that was of little consolation.

"Yes, I'm third in the championship, but finishing 14-seconds from the lead is very, very far. So I don't have many reasons to smile today," said the Mugello winner,🎉 now the only rider in the top eight to have scored points in every race this season.

Yamaha and Suzuki (the only machines with inline rather than V4 🔴;engines) have won a single race each this season, with two v🐷ictories for Ducati and four for Honda, all by Marquez.