The Grand Prix of Japan race weekend began well for the two Ducati Team riders at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit. At the end of Friday’s first two free practice sessions, Andrea Iannone was lying in third position, while his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso finished just a fraction behind in fourth.
Warm weather and ideal track conditions greeted the MotoGP riders for the start of round 15 of the championship. In the morning’s first free practice session, Iannone only used race tyres to finish in second place, while Dovizioso was sixth. During FP2 in the afternoon however, both factory Ducati riders always lapped at a good pace, setting their best times of the day towards the end after fitting the ‘extra-soft’ option rubber. Iannone ended up with a lap time of 1’45.043, around three-tenths of a second off the pace of the overnight leader Lorenzo, and Dovizioso was fourth in 1’45.059.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’45.043 (3rd)
“Today was quite a positive day for me. We were competitive right out of the box this morning and our bikes proved to be fast and have a good performance. This is very important for the work that we are doing and for the way my bike behaves: I think that this circuit manages to highlight our strong points, and so we are satisfied. Let’s hope we can continue along this path tomorrow, improve a bit more and always be as close as possible to the guys at the front.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’45.059 (4th)
“I am pleased because today we went well straight away, and more importantly, we managed to improve in both sessions. My GP15 is a bit more stable under braking, but it’s not enough for the moment and so we are going to have to try and make another step forward in this direction for tomorrow. In any case our race pace is quick and this is vital in view of Sunday.”
