- Danilo Petrucci finished fourth overall on Day 1 of free practice of the MotoGP Grand Prix de France, scheduled for this weekend at Le Mans.
- Andrea Dovizioso, who suffered a crash in the afternoon, closed Friday with the 19th time overall, after completing only seven laps in FP2.
- Jack Miller closes on top the first two free practice sessions with the Ducati Desmosedici GP bike of the Pramac Racing Team.
At the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans, the Ducati Team completed Day 1 of free practices for the French GP, the ninth round of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship. After a first wet run this morning, the MotoGP riders had to face mixed track conditions in the afternoon session. Although a few raindrops started to fall again before FP2, the asphalt had started to progressively dry up, delaying the exit of the riders on track, who were waiting to understand the intentions of the uncertain weather.
After finishing FP1 in third place on the wet, Danilo Petrucci finally returned to the track in the afternoon mounting slick tyres on his Ducati Desmosedici GP bike and managing to find immediately good sensations even with the mixed conditions of the track surface. The rider from Terni managed to improve his morning lap time in FP2, closing in 1:35.054 and getting the fourth overall position at the end of the day.
Fifth after the first free practice session in the rain, Andrea Dovizioso managed to complete only a few laps with the slick tyres in the afternoon. The rider from Forlì closed FP2 with the 19th time overall in 1:38.726, as he fell victim to a small slide that fortunately left him with no physical consequences.
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Ducati Team) – 1:35.054 (4th)
“Both this morning in the wet, and this afternoon with the mixed conditions of the track, I managed to have a good feeling with the bike right away. In FP2 the track was very cold and humid, but I went out with the slick tyres managing to be equally fast. In general, I am satisfied with this first day. We still have some things to improve, and we will aim to do so tomorrow, hoping that the weather will also be more lenient and that the rest of the weekend will remain dry.”
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 1:38.726 (19th)
“Although we hadn’t been riding in the wet for a long time, this morning I was able to have a good feeling with the bike right away. This afternoon, however, the conditions were very difficult: the track was not yet completely dry, but we went out early to try to improve our lap time from this morning. Unfortunately, as the front tyre was still too cold, I had a small crash.”
Tomorrow morning, at 9:55 AM (GMT +2.00) the Ducati Team riders will be back on track for the third session of free practice, before heading into the official qualifying of the French GP starting from 2:10 PM local time, at the end of FP4.
