Andrea Iannone will start Sunday’s German Grand Prix, round 9 of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship at the Sachsenring, from the second row of the grid. The 25-year-old Italian set the fourth quickest time in the all-important Q2 qualifying session, seven-tenths of a second away from poleman Marquez. His Italian teammate Andrea Dovizioso had a less successful qualifying run: the 29-year-old terminated the 15-minute session down in eleventh place and he will start from the fourth row.
During the morning’s FP3 session, the two Ducati Team riders set fourth (Dovizioso) and ninth (Iannone) quickest times respectively, guaranteeing them direct entry into Q2. Iannone then finished the afternoon’s pre-qualifying FP4 session in eighth place, with Dovizioso eleventh.
In the decisive Q2 run, the two Italian riders went out on track with soft rear tyres and both set their best times on their second exit.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’21.029 (4th)
“We did a good qualifying session, managing to get the best out of the bike and the package we have. It was difficult to obtain more and I am happy for this reason, but I am not very happy about our overall performance. Tomorrow I expect to improve something in race configuration, in order to try and better manage the bike’s sliding because when we are at maximum lean, my GP15 tends to slide around a bit too much. For the race it will be important to make the bike more stable in the corners, seeing as we will use the harder tyre. Here at the Sachsenring it is really important to start well and try and stay in the top positions, so a second row start is not so bad on this track.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’21.503 (11th)
“I am disappointed with my grid position because starting close to the front was what interested me the most in view of the race. It is really important here at the Sachsenring, which is a short and narrow track, but I was unable to do a good qualifying session because the front of the bike closed in on me too easily through the curves, and so I couldn’t push as hard as I wanted. However my pace is not bad and so I’ll try and make up some places in the race.”
