Andrea Dovizioso will start from the third row of the grid in the first Grand Prix of the 2020 MotoGP season, scheduled for tomorrow at 2:00 PM at the Andalusian circuit of Jerez de la Frontera. The Ducati Team rider, who had managed to enter Q2 directly, thanks to the tenth time obtained in the last minutes of FP3 in the morning, qualified eighth thanks to the fastest lap in 1:37.535.
It was a more difficult day for his teammate Danilo Petrucci, who is still suffering from neck pain after his crash on Wednesday in the pre-race test. The rider from Terni managed to find a good feeling with his Desmosedici GP today but, in FP3 this morning, he couldn’t go beyond the thirteenth position. Forced to take part in Q1 this afternoon, Danilo finished with the fourth time in 1:37.423, missing the chance to go through to Q2 and, therefore, he will start from the fifth row in tomorrow’s race.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 1:37.535 (8th)
“Today it has been difficult for me to stay in the top positions both in FP3 and the qualifying. It’s a pity because I hoped to start from the first or second row in the race; instead, we will start from the eighth position, from the third row. We have a good race pace, but at the moment I am still not fully satisfied with my feeling with the bike. We are working on it and hope to be able to improve it in time for tomorrow. It will be important to stay at the front immediately, and I am sure we have the potential to do a good race.”
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Ducati Team) – 1:37.423 (14th)
“It was a pretty difficult day. Unfortunately, I struggled a lot to sleep yesterday because of the neck pain, and the painkillers are debilitating me a lot. Despite this, I am glad to have been able to regain the feeling with the bike and that we have made progress compared to yesterday. My time in qualifying was good and, if I could get straight into Q2, with that time, I would have got the fifth place on the grid. Now we have to focus on tomorrow’s race. It won’t be easy for me, but I am sure we have the potential to do well. I hope that I will feel physically better tomorrow!”
The Ducati Team riders will be back out on track tomorrow, Sunday, 19th July, at 9:20 AM local time for twenty minutes of Warm Up ahead of the race that will start at 2:00 PM local time, on a 25-lap distance.
