- The mixed wet-dry conditions of the Spanish race track complicated the Ducati Team riders qualifying as Dovizioso and Petrucci will start from the twelfth and nineteenth positions on the grid respectively in tomorrow’s European Grand Prix in Cheste.
The official qualifying of the European MotoGP Grand Prix, scheduled this weekend at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Cheste, near Valencia, was held in semi-dry conditions as the track gradually began to dry when the sun returned to shine before FP4, after the heavy rain that fell in the morning.
Eighth at the end of the first three free practice sessions Andrea Dovizioso took part directly in Q2 this afternoon but, with the mixed conditions of the track, he couldn’t go beyond the twelfth fastest time in 1:42.249, and will start from the fourth row of the grid in tomorrow’s GP.
On the other side of the garage, Danilo Petrucci was forced to take part in Q1. The rider from Terni closed FP3 eighteenth overall with the fastest time that he set yesterday in the only session held on the dry, but during which Danilo fell victim of a slide that prevented him from improving his lap time. In Q1 this afternoon, Petrucci was unable to find a good feeling with the rain tyres, closing the session with the ninth-fastest time which will grant him the start from the nineteenth spot on the grid, from the seventh row, in tomorrow’s race.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 1:42.249 (12th).
“Qualifying didn’t go as we had hoped. In some areas, the track was quite dry, while in others we had to slow down a lot due to the lack of grip. Unfortunately, with these particular conditions, I couldn’t find the right feeling with my Desmosedici machine, and this prevented me from finding the rhythm and setting a good lap time. Hopefully, the weather will improve for tomorrow’s race”.
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Ducati Team) – 1:42.244 (19th)
“Unfortunately, today I paid dearly for the mistake I made yesterday in FP2. With rain tyres, in the semi-dry track conditions I have always struggled a lot, and also today in qualifying I had the same difficulties. Tomorrow the weather will probably change, and we will find an even different situation. Let’s see how it will go, but for sure we will have to attempt a comeback in the race tomorrow “.
The Ducati Team riders will be back on track tomorrow at 10:00 am for the warm-up session before tackling the twelfth race of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship from 2:00 pm local time (GMT +1.00).
