Andrea Iannone will start tomorrow’s eleventh round of the MotoGP World Championship, the Czech Republic Grand Prix at the Brno circuit in Moravia, from the front row of the grid.
The 27-year-old Italian of the Ducati Team was third quickest in today’s qualifying session behind Marquez and Lorenzo. His team-mate, Andrea Dovizioso, was seventh quickest in the 15-minute Q1 session.
In the morning’s FP3 Iannone was second classified in the timesheets and Dovizioso seventh, results that put both Italian factory riders through into Q2.
After FP4 in the afternoon, which ended with Iannone in second place and Dovizioso sixth, the two Ducati Team riders went out on track again for the second qualifying session, valid for the first four rows of the grid.
Andrea Iannone finished Q2 third with a time of 1’55.227 set on his final lap, while Andrea Dovizioso (1’55.748) was classified seventh.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’55.227 (3rd)
“It was a very difficult qualifying session because we knew that we would struggle to put in a good performance over one lap, but in the end we managed to get something better than expected. Here at Brno we are able to be more effective over race pace that over one lap. In any case we have worked really well during the weekend, because we’ve always been first or second in every session, and I am really satisfied. For sure the race will be tougher than in Austria, but I believe that tomorrow we’ll be up in the group that will be fighting for the podium.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’55.748 (7th)
“I am quite satisfied because in FP4 we managed to improve the bike again, and my feeling improved as well. We got closer to the guys up front but not as much as we would have liked. Unfortunately in qualifying I had a problem, because on my out lap the new front tyre was vibrating, and so I immediately had to come back in and replace it. At that point I had to fit the same tyre I had already used in FP4, which didn’t have the same level of performance as the new one. On my second run I then found myself in a group in which no one wanted to give it a go, and so I went ahead on my own because at that moment I hadn’t set a time. Maybe I could have been quicker by two or three tenths and I could have got onto the second row. Pity, but the important thing today was to improve and in my opinion we did a good job: let’s hope it will be enough to be in a position to fight for the podium tomorrow.”
