The two Ducati Team riders will start from the second and the third row of the grid for the Grand Prix of the Americas, which will be held on Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin (Texas).
Andrea Iannone set fourth quickest time in this afternoon’s Q2 session, while Andrea Dovizioso was classified in seventh place.
The rider from Abruzzo however will start from the third row in tomorrow’s 21-lap race due to the penalty he picked up following the GP of Argentina, while as a result of this Dovizioso is promoted to row 2 for the race.
In the morning’s FP3 session, Iannone was second quickest behind Marquez, while Dovizioso was classified in ninth. As a result both Ducati Team men gained direct access to the afternoon’s Q2 session.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 2’03.913 (4th)
“This afternoon everything seemed to be a bit more difficult: I don’t know if the rain had made the track conditions worse, or for whatever reason, but in any case I struggled to be quicker than in the morning. On the last lap of Q2 I was improving my time, but I went long and so it wasn’t one of my best qualifying performances. Here at Austin it seems to be easier for me to have a good pace than do a quick lap, and I’d like to understand if it depended on the characteristics of the track this afternoon or on some problem of mine. Tomorrow it will be really important to make a good start, because it could be decisive for the outcome of my race.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2’04.339 (7th)
“Unfortunately it’s been a bit of a troubled weekend for several reasons. We have always had small issues that prevented us from doing a complete session, except for qualifying. I don’t have much feeling on the front, especially in the middle of the curve because the front end tends to close in easily, and also in qualifying I didn’t do a great time because I didn’t ride smoothly. However we are set up better for the race: with the hard rear tyre we are quick and this is surely an advantage, but I had hoped to come into qualifying with a bit more pace. Tomorrow morning in the warm-up we will try and improve a bit more and I’m confident I’ll manage to stay in the leading group in the race.”
