The Australian Grand Prix race weekend has begun in a positive way for both Ducati Team riders. At the end of the first day of practice, Andrea Dovizioso was lying second in the timesheets while his team-mate Danilo Petrucci finished in fourth.
This morning’s FP1 session was held in the rain, and it finished with Petrucci fifth and Dovizioso in tenth.
In the afternoon the track dried out rapidly and the riders went out for FP2 on slick tyres. Andrea Dovizioso ended the session in second place, setting a quickest time of 1’29.320 with soft tyres on the last lap of his third exit.
Danilo Petrucci, who proved to have a good feeling with the Australian circuit right from the start, was always in amongst the fastest riders of the session and he ended the day in fourth place with a best time of 1’29.327.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 1’29.320 (2nd)
“In the end today went well: I’m very happy with second position, also because tomorrow it might rain and so it was particularly important to be inside the top 10. I managed to set a good time right at the end of the session, and even though in general I still don’t have a good feeling, we are amongst the quickest group of riders. In any case it was a positive first day”.
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Ducati Team) – 1’29.327 (4th)
“It’s always great to ride here at Phillip Island: it’s one of my favourite tracks and today we were quick right from the start. Establishing the right set-up of the bike is never easy on this circuit, because of the long high-speed corners and the different ways of interpreting the track, but I’m feeling confident for tomorrow. Today we were quick both in the wet and the dry, and so I’m very optimistic about the rest of the weekend and satisfied with this first day”.
Tomorrow, Saturday 26th October, the riders will be back on track again at 10.50 local time (01.50 CET) for the third free practice session, while qualifying will get underway after FP4, starting from 15.05 local time (06.05 CET).
