After showing its competitiveness in Friday’s free-practice sessions, the Mission Winnow Ducati team resumed action today at the Losail circuit in Qatar, home of the opening round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship. After completing FP3, which granted them direct access to Q2, the riders took advantage of FP4 to prepare the race then focused on a flying lap in the decisive qualyfing session.
Andrea Dovizioso proved once again his prowess on the Qatari track, where he took the win last year, to post a 1:53.744 that granted him second position on the grid. Danilo Petrucci, who has shown a promising pace during FP4, seized seventh position with a 1:54.200.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 1:53.744 (2nd)
“I’m very happy because we managed to improve significantly over the weekend. The tests here left us with a few doubts, but we stayed calm and focused, which in the end is always the best approach. We have great chemistry within my team and we knew how to react. We posted a really fast lap, which wasn’t even perfect, so I’m even more confident about our possibilities. That said, the lap times don’t necessarily show how the race will unfold, since the wind and low track temperatures can still change the picture. At any rate, I’m really happy to start from first row.”
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 1:54.200 (7º)
“Looking at the positives, we’ve been really fast in FP4 and that gives me confidence. The feeling with the bike was really good, so much that I posted my best time towards the very end. Our target, however, was to qualify in the first two rows and unfortunately we missed it, even if by a really small margin. I couldn’t ride as fast as I would have liked, and that gives us a bit more work to do but it also represents an extra motivation ahead of the race. It’ll be crucial to get a good start but I’m quite confident given our pace. There are plenty of competitive rivals, and tyre management will make the difference, so we have to be as prepared as possible also under this aspect.”
The Mission Winnow Ducati team will resume action tomorrow at 15:40 local time (CET +2) for a warm-up session ahead of the race, which is scheduled to start at 20:00.
Andrea Dovizioso proved once again his prowess on the Qatari track, where he took the win last year, to post a 1:53.744 that granted him second position on the grid. Danilo Petrucci, who has shown a promising pace during FP4, seized seventh position with a 1:54.200.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 1:53.744 (2nd)
“I’m very happy because we managed to improve significantly over the weekend. The tests here left us with a few doubts, but we stayed calm and focused, which in the end is always the best approach. We have great chemistry within my team and we knew how to react. We posted a really fast lap, which wasn’t even perfect, so I’m even more confident about our possibilities. That said, the lap times don’t necessarily show how the race will unfold, since the wind and low track temperatures can still change the picture. At any rate, I’m really happy to start from first row.”
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 1:54.200 (7º)
“Looking at the positives, we’ve been really fast in FP4 and that gives me confidence. The feeling with the bike was really good, so much that I posted my best time towards the very end. Our target, however, was to qualify in the first two rows and unfortunately we missed it, even if by a really small margin. I couldn’t ride as fast as I would have liked, and that gives us a bit more work to do but it also represents an extra motivation ahead of the race. It’ll be crucial to get a good start but I’m quite confident given our pace. There are plenty of competitive rivals, and tyre management will make the difference, so we have to be as prepared as possible also under this aspect.”
The Mission Winnow Ducati team will resume action tomorrow at 15:40 local time (CET +2) for a warm-up session ahead of the race, which is scheduled to start at 20:00.
