The two Ducati Team riders made a positive start to the final race weekend of the 2014 MotoGP season at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Cheste (Valencia). The first day of practice for the Valencian Community GP in fact concluded with Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow setting third and sixth quickest time respectively in today’s two free practice sessions.
The Ducati Test Team’s test-rider Michele Pirro also put in another good performance. The Italian, who is entered as a wild-card in the final round, ended the day in twelfth place, just 971/1000ths off the pace of Marquez, who was quickest today.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 3rd (1’31.558)
“I am very pleased with the way this weekend has started because we were quick in both this morning’s and this afternoon’s sessions. We kept up a good pace with the hard tyre: we are not far from the frontrunners and I think that tomorrow we can improve even more. I also did a good time with the soft tyre, but it wasn’t a perfect lap so I think I can do better here as well, but I am really pleased with my pace on the hard tyre.”
Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team #35) – 6th (1’31.731)
“We never had a good session in FP1 but FP2 seemed to be a lot better and I found not such a bad feeling with the bike. We changed the geometry a bit half-way through the session and it seemed to work also. We really need to improve for tomorrow because the other guys are going to be going a lot faster, but we will look through the data with the engineers tonight and see where we can improve. I believe we can still improve in sectors 1 and 4. Tomorrow I look forward to qualifying and see if we can get a good grid position for Sunday’s race.”
Michele Pirro (Ducati Test Team #51) – 12th (1’32.267)
“It was a positive day for me, especially because I have finally come back to the track to do a race. I didn’t go bad at all, even though maybe I could have set a better time, but I made a mistake during my good lap. We still have to improve the set-up of my bike and I also have to get a better rhythm, but all things considered I’m pleased and tomorrow I hope to make a further step forward and get into the top 10.”
