It was a good start for the two Ducati Team riders at the Red Bull Ring near Zeltweg today, where this weekend’s eleventh round of the championship – the Austrian Grand Prix – is taking place.
Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo ended the day in first and second position after concluding the morning’s dry weather session at the top of the timesheets, while the afternoon session was held in heavy rain and as a result the standings remained the same.
Dovizioso was the only rider capable of dipping under the 1 minute 24 second mark as he set a time of 1’23.830, while Lorenzo’s best lap time was 1’24.045.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04): 1st (1’23.830)
“We got off to a very good start today and right from the morning session the bike was all set to go, mainly because we’ve just come from a race where we went very well and so we didn’t have to change the set-up very much. Even though we only did one session in the dry, our times are already very good and we have already completed a large part of the work load for the race. Unfortunately, in the afternoon we were unable to continue working on the tyres because of the rain, but what counts is that we were quick right from the start. Tomorrow let’s hope that the weather conditions allow us to work on the final details for the race.”
Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99): 2nd (1’24.045)
“Today we weren’t able to draw many conclusions for the race, but in the few laps we did we were always amongst the quickest and we were competitive both in the morning when it was dry and in the afternoon with the rain. Finishing the day in second place behind Andrea is a good sign, but we will have to try and improve even more, especially under braking, and so I hope that the weather conditions tomorrow will allow us to work on this. In any case we’ve begun this weekend well.”
