Andrea Dovizioso produced another outstanding performance for the Ducati Team at Austin, as he powered his Desmosedici GP15 to the second-quickest time in qualifying, just 339 thousandths of a second away from poleman Marquez.
On a cloudy but dry day, Dovizioso finished the morning’s third free practice session (FP3) in eighth place, guaranteeing him direct access to Q2. In the thirty minutes of FP4, the 29-year-old Italian then set third-quickest time behind Marquez and Lorenzo. In Q2, Dovizioso, who went out in the last minutes of the session with a soft compound rear tyre, managed to notch up an excellent pace-setting time of 2’02.474, but he had to settle for second place after being passed by Marquez in the final moments of the session.
Andrea Iannone’s day, on the other hand, was a bit more complicated. The 25-year-old from Vasto finished FP3 in eleventh place and as a result had to take part in the first qualifying session (Q1). During the pre-qualifying FP4 run, Iannone succeeded in improving the feeling with his GP15 to finish in fifth place. In Q1, using a medium compound rear tyre, Andrea then set a best time of 2’03.644, which guaranteed him access to Q2. In the decisive qualifying session, he was unable to get the most out of the soft tyre and so returned to the track on medium rubber to set a good time of 2’02.792. This left him in seventh place, and so tomorrow he will start from row 3 for the GP of the Americas.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2’02.474 (2nd)
“When we get these results, it means that we have certainly been working well. I am very satisfied with the front row position and with my best time, and I’m also happy with the way my team has worked. We managed to improve the feeling a bit in FP4, and this allowed me to be aggressive in qualifying and record a really good time. Here in Texas we’ve had a bit more difficulty than in Qatar, because the Austin track is very unusual and the weather conditions have certainly not helped. Tomorrow it’s not going to be easy, but I have to say that we are competitive and so I think I can do a good race.”
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 2’02.792 (7th)
“To be honest I am not very satisfied with my qualifying and grid position, but on the other hand I am optimistic about the race because with the medium compound tyre I can manage to keep up a good pace, and in FP3 and FP4 we went further than the race distance using always the same tyre. Unfortunately I still have a bit of difficulty in qualifying and I am unable to get the best out of the soft tyre, which could have given me a hand in starting further up the grid, and this is something that me and my team will have to work on.”
