Both Ducati Team riders got off to a positive start at the Assen TT weekend. Andrea Iannone set the quickest time of the day in 1’33.591 after the first two free practice sessions at the Dutch circuit, while his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso was classified in sixth place with a time of 1’34.011.
All the MotoGP riders improved their times during the afternoon’s FP2 session, but the two factory Ducati men had also already proved to be competitive during the first morning session, when Iannone was first and Dovizioso second.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’33.591 (1st)
“Today’s result is very positive, even though I’m not totally satisfied. It’s true that we are very quick, but I am unable to ride the way I want because when I arrive at the changes of direction, the bike struggles to follow the cornering line and this is penalizing me a lot. I have to work with the guys in the team to try and improve my bike both to become more nimble in this part of the circuit and to improve cornering. If we manage to sort out these issues, we can be very competitive and do a good race, even though I have to start from the last row”.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team # 04) – 1’34.011 (6th)
“I am pleased with the improvement we managed to make in the afternoon, because this morning we had a lot of chattering and by working with the team we succeeded in limiting it a lot. Now I’m much closer to the top guys for pace, but we still have to improve because I am unable to be as smooth as I would like in race mode. All things considered I am satisfied with today, even though at the end I didn’t do a good lap with the soft tyre. For sure we can be even quicker, but we will have to make another step forward tomorrow morning.”
