The tenth round of the MotoGP World Championship got underway today for the Ducati Team with the first two free practice sessions at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was a positive day for Andrea Dovizioso, who was up near the front on both occasions. At the end of the day the Italian’s time of 1’33.432, five-tenths off the top slot, powered him to an overnight fourth place.
His team-mate Cal Crutchlow, who was back on his Desmosedici GP14 after operations on both forearms three weeks ago, could only set a provisional thirteenth quickest time, but the British rider is confident he can move further up the timesheets tomorrow in free practice and qualifying.
Today’s lap times, on a slightly modified and resurfaced track, dropped considerably from last year and both Ducati Team riders are convinced that they can make further gains tomorrow.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 4th (1’33.432)
“I am happy with today’s result because we were competitive right away. I believe that the track will improve even further tomorrow, so we must not look too closely at the times, but the feeling with my GP14 is good. Tomorrow we will still have to work on our bike to make more improvements, but we are all pretty close in the times. The resurfaced track is much more enjoyable and I’m really pleased with the job that has been done here at Indy.”
Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team #35) – 13th (1’33.996)
“I think today went as expected, seeing as we had some settings to try with my bikes. One bike was clearly better than the other and only in the last run was I able to make an improvement. The lap time at the moment is not so good and not so consistent but we will look to improve that tomorrow. Despite everything, I’m quite optimistic about how things are going, although my arms felt a little sore because only a few weeks ago I had an operation on both of them. As for the new circuit layout, it seems quite nice as well and is a lot better to ride on.”
