Andrea Dovizioso went third quickest in qualifying today at Mugello with a time of 1’46.835 that put him on the front row for the Italian Grand Prix. The Ducati Team rider was eighth quickest in the morning’s FP3 session and went through directly into Q2.
Team-mate Jorge Lorenzo will start from the third row: the Spanish rider this morning was third quickest in FP3 and then set the seventh fastest time of 1’47.152 in qualifying.
Wild-card rider Michele Pirro was on good form in his debut race in this year’s MotoGP season. The Ducati Test Team rider, seventh this morning, clocked a best time of 1’46.878, just 64/1000ths slower than second-placed Valentino Rossi.
The 23-lap race gets underway tomorrow at 14.00 CET.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’46.835 (3rd)
“I am very happy to start from the front row here at Mugello! Qualifying wasn’t easy at all because it was very hot and the track grip was lower. Mine wasn’t a perfect lap but it was good enough to earn me a front row slot and confirmed the good job we’ve done this weekend. I’m also satisfied with my race pace because in FP4 we started with very used tyres and we had the same speed as the other riders. I’m confident for tomorrow, when we’ll see if the excellent job we’ve done these last couple of days will be enough to fight for the podium.”
Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) – 1’47.152 (7th)
“I’m quite pleased despite my grid position not being what I had hoped for. We are actually much better with race pace than when it comes to setting a time, but in any case this is my best qualifying performance this year after Austin. The most important thing is that we have found a setting that I think can work well tomorrow in the race and also in the future. As for the race itself, we are all very close and it’s complicated to make any predictions, but I think that if I can get off to a good start I can fight with the leading group.”
Michele Pirro (Ducati Test Team #51) – 1’46.878 (4th)
“First of all I’d like to thank the guys in the Ducati Test Team who I work with all year, and who deserve some of the merit for this good performance. Unfortunately I missed out on the front row because of a small mistake I made in the final sector, where I can improve a bit more and where we’ll work on tomorrow in the warm-up. Fourth place on the grid is any case a good result, but tomorrow I’ll have to get a good start, stay with the leading group and try and set consistent lap times to do a good race.”
