The Ducati Team took to the track again today at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, to complete the first day of free practices of the Styrian Gran Prix of MotoGP.
Fast already during the early stages of the day, Andrea Dovizioso closed with the third time overall on Friday, after setting his best lap in 1:23.863 in FP1. Thanks to the good lap time that he put in this morning, the rider from Forlì could fully commit the rest of the time available in FP2 to fine-tune his Desmosedici GP bike, as he didn’t have to worry about trying another “time attack”.
On the other side of the garage, it was an uphill start of the weekend for his teammate Danilo Petrucci. Forced to sit out the final minutes of FP2 due to some issues, the rider from Terni failed to go beyond the seventeenth time overall. Petrucci closed Day 1 with the fastest time in 1:24.517, 879 thousandths of a second off the top of the timesheets, and he will aim to place himself in the top ten positions during the crucial session of FP3 tomorrow morning.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 1:23.863 (3rd)
“It has been a very positive day, and I am pleased with the work we’ve completed today. This morning we did a very quick lap time, and this allowed us to dedicate the afternoon session to try to understand how to manage the tyres better in the race. Since we had been racing here last week, we know where do we need to focus our work on. The feeling with the bike is good, and we are among the fastest riders. We hope that the weather will hold up, allowing us to continue our programme tomorrow.”
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Ducati Team) – 1:24.517 (17th)
“Unfortunately both this morning, and this afternoon we were unable to make the most of the time available due to some problems, which forced us inside the garage, especially in the last part of FP2. We had several tests planned for today, but now we have to postpone them to tomorrow morning. Of course, the main goal of FP3 will be to improve our lap time, to be able to get into the top ten. I am confident as we still have a session to recover.”
The Ducati Team riders will be back on track tomorrow, Saturday, 22nd August starting at 9:55 AM with FP3, while qualifying for the Grand Prix of Styria will be held from 2:10 PM local time, after FP4.
