The two Ducati Team riders qualified on the third row of the starting-grid for the Valencian Community Grand Prix, the final round of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship, which takes place tomorrow at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia.
Both Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso were able to complete two good free practice sessions today, easily gaining access to Q2, but during the decisive qualifying run they were disturbed by strong winds and could not put together a perfect lap.
Michele Pirro, test-rider for the Ducati Test Team, was fourteenth at the end of FP3 and then took part in the first qualifying session (Q1), finishing second. Having gained access to Q2 together with Bradl, Michele was however not able to go any higher than twelfth and as a result will start tomorrow’s race from row 4.
Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team #35) – 8th (1’31.359)
“I’m a little disappointed with the final outcome in qualifying: I believe we should have gone a bit quicker but we were affected a lot by the wind with our bike and I also had some problems with chatter. But overall today I felt we had a good feeling with the bike, I was a bit more confident and we were able to push a bit more, so hopefully tomorrow we can have a good race.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 9th (1’31.426)
“We have worked well all weekend, but in the afternoon there was a strong wind and I lost a bit of feeling with the front. I didn’t ride as smoothly as I did in the other sessions and unfortunately I was not able to do the times I had expected. We’ll see what the conditions are like tomorrow, but I think that for the race we should be OK.”
Michele Pirro (Ducati Test Team #51) – 12th (1’32.617)
“I’m happy in any case because I managed to get into Q2. This morning I wasn’t satisfied because I couldn’t push hard and I knew I could have done better. In Q1 on the other hand I set a good time, lapping on my own, not far from the times set by the other Ducati riders. Unfortunately in Q2 I didn’t have any more new tyres to use: we did a few modifications but in the end I preferred not to take any risks.”
