Iannone 1st and Dovizioso 2nd with the new Desmosedici GP15.
Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso were on great form today on the opening day of the three-day IRTA test taking place at the Losail circuit in Qatar. After running in the leading positions throughout the session, the two Ducati Team riders finished the day in the top two slots.
Iannone took to the track at around six o’clock in the afternoon and concentrated on testing the new Desmosedici GP15. He completed 50 laps, setting his quickest time in 1’55.265 on lap 30 and topping the timesheets at the end of the day.
Dovizioso on the other hand began his testing schedule right at the start of the session, around four o’clock, and completed a few laps with the Desmosedici GP14.3 before stepping onto his GP15 and continuing on the same bike until the end of the day. He did a total of 48 laps, the best of which was 1’55.363, and finished the session in second place.
Also out on track was Michele Pirro, test-rider for the Ducati Test Team. Pirro did a total of 53 laps on his Desmosedici GP14.3 during which he continued with development work and concentrated above all on new software. Michele ended the day in 23rd place and with a time of 1’57.664.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’55.265 (1st), 50 laps
“For sure it was a positive first day, and we are learning more and more about the Desmosedici GP15 and its reactions. Today we carried out the schedule we had planned at the start of the day and we managed to get through everything we had to do. Now our engineers will have even more information to evaluate the situation, and in any case we were always quick. I am happy because we are improving every time we go out onto the track.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’55.363 (2nd), 48 laps
“I am very satisfied with this first day here in Qatar, because we immediately got off to a fast start and this is always important. For sure we still have a lot of work to do because there are a few aspects of the GP15 that we have to improve before we arrive at the race, but I am happy with the base settings we have established here. Tomorrow we’ll do some important tests to better understand our new bike, but as I said before today was a very positive start.”
