MotoGP Ducati team penalty and will start race from pit lane

The Ducati Team riders Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci will start respectively from the third and fourth rows of the grid at the Styrian Grand Prix, scheduled for tomorrow at the Austrian circuit of the Red Bull Ring.

After finishing FP3 with the fourth overall time, gaining to access directly into Q2, Dovizioso couldn’t find the right conditions to complete a good fastest lap in qualifying, finishing with the ninth time in 1:23.849, just 269 thousandths of a second from poleman Pol Espargaro.

Thirteenth at the end of FP3 this morning, his teammate Danilo Petrucci was forced to take part also in Q1 this afternoon, where he finished second thanks to the fastest lap in 1:23.772. As he gained access to the following Q2 session, the rider from Terni wasn’t able to repeat the good lap time ending in twelfth place in qualifying.

Dovizioso and Petrucci, however, will start respectively from the eighth and eleventh spots of the grid as Johann Zarco – who is back after undergoing surgery to his right scaphoid last Wednesday afternoon – after finishing as fastest in Q1 and ending a good qualifying in third place with the Ducati Desmosedici GP bike of the Esponsorama Racing Team, will be forced to serve a penalty by starting the race from the pit lane tomorrow.

Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 1:23.849 (9th)
“Today our goal was to get on the front row, but unfortunately I couldn’t get a good lap in qualifying. It had never happened to me, but after working so much with the used tyres these days, I struggled to find the feeling needed to push with the new tyres. We’ve been working hard these days, and we’re ready for tomorrow. We hope to be able to recover positions immediately from the early stages of the race.”

Danilo Petrucci (#9 Ducati Team) – 1:24.174 (12th)
“Today, in Q1, I managed to get a good lap time, but I wasn’t able to repeat it in Q2. For the moment, I still can’t find the right balance when it comes to braking, and in the second session of qualifying, I made a small mistake that affected my result. I honestly didn’t expect to close so far behind and hoped I could do better. I expect a difficult race, as on this track it is not easy to recover positions, but the important thing will be to be able to make a good start to avoid getting stuck in the confusion of the first laps”.

The Ducati Team riders will be back on track tomorrow at 9:40 AM. for the last warm-up session before the race, which will start on a 28-lap distance at 2:00 PM local time (GMT +2.00)

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