Saturday’s track action at Phillip Island was affected by the adverse weather conditions, with cold temperatures, strong gusts of wind and intermittent rain throughout the day.
This morning ten riders, including those of the Ducati Team, opted not to go out on track during the FP3 session because the conditions would in any case not have allowed them to improve on their times set in FP2 yesterday. In the afternoon the wind became even stronger and, after Oliveira’s crash, the Race Direction decided to interrupt the session about twelve minutes before the end, immediately summoning the riders for a meeting of the Safety Commission. It was then decided to cancel all further activities on track for today and a new schedule was drawn up for tomorrow.
On Sunday the MotoGP class will now go out for a warm-up session of 20 minutes at 9.50 am (00.50 CET), followed by Q1 and then Q2, in which both Dovizioso and Petrucci will take part, at 10.45 (01.45 CET). The race will start as scheduled at 15.00 (05.00 CET), and will be held over a distance of 27 laps.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – yesterday’s time 1’29.320 (2nd)
“Today was a very strange day, with strong wind but above all it was very gusty, which because of the layout of Phillip Island with its very fast corners and the bikes always leaning, made it increasingly dangerous to continue to be out on the track. I’m happy that the decision was taken to cancel all track activity in the afternoon to prevent unnecessary risks from being taken, and now let’s hope that tomorrow the weather conditions will allow us to race without any problems”.
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Ducati Team) – yesterday’s time 1’29.327 (4th)
“For sure today’s conditions were right on the limit: there wasn’t any margin for safety and the wind was coming in with strong gusts making it very difficult to control the bike. We’ll see what the weather will be like tomorrow, but let’s hope the wind will die down so we can complete the day’s programme. It’s going to be a long day for everyone, but today there just weren’t the right conditions for us out on the track and so in my opinion the Race Direction made the right decision”.
