The first day of practice for the Grand Prix of the Americas, round 2 of the MotoGP World Championship taking place this weekend at the Austin circuit in Texas, ended with the two Ducati Team riders – Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso – respectively in third and fifth place.
The morning’s FP1 session took place in the pouring rain and Dovizioso was able to top the timesheets, four-tenths quicker than Marc Marquez.
In the afternoon, FP2 began with a still damp track, but during the session the sun dried out the lines and the riders were able to lap on a completely dry surface towards the end. Both Iannone and Dovizioso used a soft rear tyre on their final runs to set their quickest times, and they ended the day third and fifth.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 2’05.190 (3rd)
“I am pleased with how today ended. FP1 this morning was a bit more difficult for me because I didn’t have a good feeling with the bike in the wet. In the afternoon however, I managed to be quite quick with the bike in its dry weather set-up and right from the start of the second session I had a good feeling with the GP15: I like the way it behaves and so I am satisfied with our situation at the moment. Let’s see tomorrow what the weather conditions are going to be like.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2’05.646 (5th)
“All things considered today was a positive day, even though the conditions were rather particular. But we are happy because we were quick both in the rain and in the dry. This afternoon the main aim was to stay in the top 10 because tomorrow morning it will probably rain. Unfortunately we were unable to work very much with dry settings, I only did four laps and the feeling with the bike is not good enough yet. We have to improve a few things, both in the wet and in the dry, if we want to fight for the podium tomorrow, but the limits of the bike are pretty similar in the various weather conditions, and so in any case tomorrow we have to work to try and resolve them.”
