Changeable weather conditions, with frequent showers that left the Phillip Island track surface wet for much of the day, prevented the Ducati Team riders from completing their scheduled work load.
Andrea Iannone however was able to complete seven laps on a dry surface in the afternoon, ending the day tenth quickest, while his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso made a couple of exits before coming back into the pit lane and as a result did not record a lap time.
The quickest rider of the day was Danilo Petrucci on the Octo Pramac Yakhnich team’s Ducati Desmosedici.
All the riders will be out on track again tomorrow and Friday hoping for better weather conditions.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’34.049 (10th)
“It was a bit of a strange day: unfortunately the weather didn’t allow us to work the way we had planned and I only managed to do seven laps in the afternoon in the dry with the 2016 Desmosedici GP. We hope that in the next two days we’ll get more track time because we’ve still got lots of things to test. However I’m happy with the positive atmosphere in the team garage and I’m feeling confident about the new bike.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – no time
“Honestly speaking for me today was a wasted day. This morning maybe we could have gone out on track when it was raining heavily, to do a few laps in wet weather set-up, but we preferred to wait a bit. However the situation didn’t improve and the track always remained damp. In the afternoon I did a couple of out-in exits with my Desmosedici GP, to allow the engineers to check a few things, but now I’m really hoping the weather is good tomorrow and Friday to give me the chance to put in some track time with the new bike.”
